Hi @Mihir-Bala
You will need a 2S minimum to satisfy all the requirements of our power module: https://docs.modalai.com/power-module-v3-datasheet/
Then, you need to do the math to support a 30Watt transient on power up... which equates to a ~5amp burst at the low end of the 2S cell ~6.4V.
So, if you have a 1,000mAh cell at 2S, that will require a 5C rating.
If you have a 2,000mAh cell, you need ~2.5C rating, and so on...
Hope this helped!
Hi @jacobcayetano1
Apologies for not updating some of the tech docs content about that test board we developed.
Here are some links:
https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-dev-test-board/
That describes the board and provides schematics and other useful user info.
Since the test board is a very easy way to destroy your VOXL 2, we keep the sale of it on our Beta page to alert customers that it is an "at-risk" design since you can easily void your VOXL 2 warranties by over-stressing the VOXL2 and introducing ESD and other signal shorting risks.
That said, here is the purchase link:
https://www.modalai.com/pages/beta-voxl-2-b2b-breakout-board
It comes as a kit with many goodies for it's use including cables, a mounting case, and an SD card.
Now, as far as being able to use Microhard AND J5, we recommend using the standalone version ("dongle") of the Microhard board: https://www.modalai.com/collections/modems/products/mdk-m0048-2 since that will allow you to cascade it off any USB port we have (or one that you include in your design).
Here are some tips for designing a good USB port with our Voxl ecosystem: https://docs.modalai.com/expansion-design-guide/#usb-expansion-over-j3--j5
Should you go down the route of designing a custom VOXL 2 plug-in board, we will offer a courtesy review of your schematic to help you along! Feel free to tag me again when you are ready, and we will start an email exchange to share your data so you are not posting it on our forum (unless you wanted to).
Hope this helped.
Vinny
Hi @dlee
All of our Doodle configs are only using USB2, not UART.
Hope that answers your questions.
Thanks!
Hi Nikhil,
Sorry for our delayed response on this. I just recently joined our forum to help out with more HW centric question.
As Chad mentioned, this does require HW mods if you do not want the SW driver timestamp method (which would be our recommendation/preference).
The Lepton signal VSYNC (on GPIO3 most likely is what you are referring to) is running at the VIO voltage of 2.8V to 3.1V per Lepton specs. Our camera sensors are MIPI based, and as such all of those I/Os are at 1.8V, so a level translator would be required which makes connecting these a bit tricky, especially if you need bi-directional support with another sync controller/snoop device. This would need to be something done on a custom interface between the Lepton and the stereo sensors. We do not have such module but would be happy to give further guidance if you need it.
Thanks!
Vinny
Hi @Gary-Holmgren
Yes, we did design VOXL 2 Mini to be powered by 1S capable source. But, we'll need @Alex-Kushleyev to respond regarding the MINI ESC and how that may need to be tuned for 1S operations.
For VOXL 2 Mini, here is the way it can work, and the few caveats to explain why we have not offered it yet in exactly that way. If I go in too deep on any electronics jargon, let me know and I'll try to clarify as needed 
The local 3.3V regulator for the UART, GNSS, and all other ports will start to drop-out at around 3.4V. So, even though the core electronics (Snapdragon, Memory, Cameras, USB) will work down to 3.2V, some of our extra circuits will not be happy. If you are powering modules from our 3.3V supply, and they can operate at slightly lower, like 3.2V or 3.1V, and you use our 3.3V as the VDDIO ref, then all is good there.
Our 5V boost circuit likes higher voltages. At 3.8V VBATT in, we can supply ~900mA of VBUS (to mimic USB3 VBUS specs). However, as that input VBATT voltage goes down, so will the capacity of that supply. Also, I have a UVLO setting on that rail to trigger the 5V boost to turn OFF if VBAT drops below 2.5V to prevent 1S battery continual drainage (deep discharge) in the event you disable the flight control stuff, but forget to disconnect the battery. However, the ramp ON has a very large hysteresis and it triggers at ~3.5V. So, if you try to start a power ON with less than 3.6V, that 5V boost may never turn ON. Now, if you are not using VBUS, or the 5V on the J19 connector, then it's a do-not-care. But, your ToF use case will require it....
TOF is not easy on VOXL 2 Mini, especially the new V2 one. Since we only have that 900mA of 5V (less at lower voltages), the ToF circuit may get starved of it's needed 5V if you start to use other stuff, like USB or lower input VBATT. So, we would only caution you to use 1 ToF module at max, and be prepared to lower exposure and frame rates at VBAT < 3.8V. Our ToF modules use that 5V to generate a local 3.3V, so we do get some power conversion gains, but we just have not done it yet on V2 Mini to capture all the other side effects.
Thermal, if you are using our Fan connector, that is powered by that same 5V supply IN mentioned above. So, if that does start to shut down, you'll get a fan OFF condition (possibly ON/OFF throttling like a forced PWM if the 5V comes back on), triggering thermal rise compared to the current 100% duty cycle ON as it is now.
Unplanned/Untested Software responses at VBAT <3.8V. As stated, we have not tested this config. The Snapdragon parts are very complex SoCs. When power input starts to go below a certain threshold, the underlying Power MGMT IC's (PMICs) will start to throw interrupts. I think the first one by default is around 3.3V VBATT, but they change based on platforms and chips. So, as we start to approach the "dead battery" SOC%, the system itself may start to react differently and we have not characterized that at all for our builds. It is electrically spec'd to operate, but SW may start nagging and doing weird stuff, like turning off functions such as cameras for example to conserve power.
Motor noise!!! This is the biggest one... 1S motors will draw a lot of current to equal similar power demands of higher 2S+ rated motors (there is some V*I correlation here to motor power, so the lower the V, the higher the I). This will result in a lot of noise on the VBATT power rail. These transients can go not only low (droop, triggering resets, 5V OFF, etc) but also too HIGH (back EMF, energy dumps, etc...) potentially damaging components on V2 Mini's front end power system. V2 Mini ABS MAX voltage in is 6V, at which point the PMICs will be damaged. This is the single biggest reason we have not tried to connect a battery directly to our electronics, and always opt to have some type of nice DC/DC to provide solid line-regulation protection. So, if you try to use a direct 1S VBAT, you will need a really good motor-noise transient protection, maybe even a fast acting Zener diode, set to ~5.6V or so. On a side note, we just started including a 5.6V Zener on a new Spin of V2 mini we are working on, but existing M0104 V2 Minis do NOT have that 5.6V zener. Details on a new V2 Mini will follow in the up-coming months, as teased here: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-mini-connectors/#j3-usb-3-10-pin
Those are my first thoughts... If I think of anything else, I will let you know.
I think it is doable.... V2 Mini was designed with micro-quads in mind, but there is some planning and design considerations that need to be done. We can help you along with the HW side of stuff, but I can't promise we'll have any SW support for issues possibly related to low VBAT in since we have no system to check against or develop with. That is why we only use 2S+ in our platforms (currently).
Hope this helped!
@Ansel-Misfeldt Hi,
The approach we will take for CANBUS right now is similar to what we have. That is, to add CANBUS, it requires the use of a FlightCore Flight Controller. So, with Voxl1, you have Voxl-Flight which integrates the FlightCore, or you add on Flight Core independantly.
For Voxl2, you can still use a FlightCore, but we have some exciting news coming soon for a newer improved FlightCore, we will likely call it FlightCore V2
It will retain CANBUS functionality but has a slew of other upgrades and user improvements added in, all in the same form-factor as FCv1.
Our Docs portal is just about ready for launch and I think we did a better job up-front on this one to help our customers get running quickly.
Stay tuned, we should be posting it for sale in the up-coming days!!
Hi @jacobcayetano1
Our Power Module is proven to deliver 30W continuous over the full industrial temperature range.
I'd be shocked if you can find a better module with all of it's features out there for this price point.
I encourage you to stress test it using a load box and you'll see how reliable it is. I'm happy to share a few of our validation plots if you wish. We also unit test every unit with a 3Amp load (15W) before shipping.
Let me know if you have any other concerns about the power module.
To add to what our Moderator has posted, the QGC "Avionics Power Low" feature and warning is useless. The ADCs on STMicro parts are frankly terrible, plain and simple. That is why we use a 16-bit INA231 on the power module for current measurement and reporting.
Additionally, You cannot power the FCv2 over USB fully featured as noted here:
https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-datasheets-v2-functional-description/#power-supply-and-power-source-mux-details
That USB power option is provided as a convenience for programming w/o a bulky battery.
Hi Gaurav,
The PWM Output port J1007 provides 5V DC as a reference on pin 1. This same voltage connects to the main power 5V that powers Voxl.
https://docs.modalai.com/voxl-flight-datasheet-connectors/#j1007---8-channel-pwm--4-channel-dshot-output-output-connector
If you are providing a separate power source on the ESCs different from Voxl's 5V, then you should either insert a blocking diode on this or remove that cable position from J1007.1 and only use a 9-conductor cable, positions 2-10.
If you are using the same 5V supply on Voxl and the ESCs, then these are just shorts and do not matter.
We provide a variety of power tap-off options on Voxl and Voxl Flight and we know sometimes it can create tricky cabling solutions.
Let me know if you would like more info, and if you do, please provide us with the ESC part number you have.
Thanks!
Vinny
Hi @John-Nomikos
Have you confirmed the issue we pointed to in the other forum post?
https://forum.modalai.com/topic/1356/sentinel-drone-randomly-reboots?_=1673383475709
Do you have Kapton or another insulating tape you can place on the J5 120-pin B2B connector on Voxl2 to help confirm the Microhard is not touching J5? We've seen it first hand that it triggers resets.
I doubt all 3 MCBL-00001 are all bad on you (although we do know they go bad fast from users pulling them out by the cable wires instead of the plastic shroud, but that's another issue).
Let us know.
Thanks!
Hi @jacobcayetano1
There are still over 500k units in available distribution which we can access.
I would not worry at all at this time and I fully expect we can still build FCv2 as is for years to come.
Our parts sourcing expertise is top notch!
(not sure if you recall but during the parts shortage craziness of 2020-21 we were one of the few vendors who still had product in-stock and shipping!!)
If you had a large order in mind, any head's up is appreciated so we can be sure to have sufficient stock.
Thanks!
HI @Jeremy-Frederick
This cable may help improve your setup to get rid of that external regulator for the MH
https://www.modalai.com/collections/cables-1/products/mcbl-00095
Food for thought.
Hi @voxl-phoenix
In all honesty, you may just want to purchase a VOXL-2 based flight deck. None of your image sensors from VOXL Flight can directly plug into VOXL 2. You need at least a few adapter PCBs or flexes and you need to make sure all the image sensors you want to port over are supported.
The best way to do this is to have a new freshly built and tested flight deck. Then, if you notice any sensors are compatible with what you already have, then you have spares.
It usually takes some effort to get image sensors working exactly the way you want, and with a flight deck pre-tested and confirmed, you are starting off on the better footing compared to trying to build your own from scratch and chugging through it.
Check these out and see if the benefits add up for you.
https://www.modalai.com/collections/ready-to-mount/products/voxl-2-flight-deck?variant=40503626039347
Hi @Jetson-Nano
It's a catch-22.
Our ME team is well versed to design these as trapped as best as possible to prevent back-outs in certain areas. In others, we need them accessible by you, the user, to have design and development freedom. So, we just need to caution developers to be very careful.
We have not put these through the ringers or any specific MIL-STD testing as this is a new roll-out, and many customers were enthusiastic about it and were asking for this for years.
We are doing what we can to support the demands and then also highlight the risks.
It's all about trade-offs for smaller and cost-sensitive vs rugged reliability. We leave many decisions up to customers by offering options and at least showing what is the smallest possible approach for those that care about that. Smallest is usually the hardest constraint to meet.
Hi @Jetson-Nano
No, but we provide the link to buy it from the vendor here: https://docs.modalai.com/micro-coax-user-guide/
Please minimize removals where you can. I have personally broken several DF56 connectors already. They are not friendly for multiple insertions and removal cycles, which is why we sell the kits with them pre-installed and tested. The moment you unplug them, you risk damage, and they are no longer "tested".
It's all part of the tradeoffs of each system.
Hi @TomP
Absolutely No.
Do Not use our Micro Coax cables or adapter boards with ANY sensor other than provided by ModalAI. We spent months designing this new ecosystem of connectors, pinouts, and adapter boards with a ton of thought and care. Part of that is complete incompatibility with other vendors' products.
https://docs.modalai.com/micro-coax-user-guide/
Thanks!
Hi @Jetson-Nano
No, just the one length of 75mm for M0170 Rev B (M0180 as an interim).
The ToF current draw demands really place a heavy constraint on these flexes and was one of the driving forces behind the new 40-pin connector format (which helps in other areas too).
For note, we have these Rev and design variations since we are trying some new flex vendors for longer term support and reliable sourcing. Also why they took longer than most to get going.
Hi @Jetson-Nano
Almost!!
I'm actually testing a new batch TOMORROW (just got my V2 all setup for it TODAY) then we can get them into our production flow, hopefully in the next week or so.
Ping on me next week for updates if I do not respond back again soon.
Thanks!
Hi @LucaVertiq
To me, it seems as if the board went into a power fail condition. Was this in any sort of crash or was it dropped?
LED D2 coming on, then going Off repeatedly is an indication of a continuous reboot cycle (coinciding with your readings of 0.4A, 0A) but there is likely some hardware fault detected by the system preventing it from booting fully.
Hi @LucaVertiq
For clarification (The USB 5V D2 LED doesn't seem to come on and when plugged into a computer ), this LED is an indicator that the 10-pin J3 port is available as a host and has no bearing on the USB-C port operations or plugging into a host PC for ADB.
https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-mini-connectors/
Hi @swickliff
If this is still troubling you, are you willing to do an RMA so we can inspect and make sure things are solidly setup again for you?
You can get started by reaching out here: rma@modalai.com