Hello. I got your help recently on building a circuit to replace batteries in a towel dispenser. It works, but the motor runs as if it was using tired batteries. I thought it was the USB charger that I was using not putting out enough power so I bought a Leviton 2 port USB charging power outlet. It's rated 3.6 amps shared, so I guess that means 1.8 amps per port. The little box I was using before was 2.1 amps shared so I was hoping more available amperage would translate to faster operation.
I just installed the new outlet and it's no better. Then it hit me; the wire I was using to go from the USB female port to the circuit board is 24 gauge. That's probably choking off the power, right? I read that 24 gauge is only good for half an amp. So for better performance (and less fires lol) I figured I'd go with 18 gauge. My stripboard though has very tiny holes. I figured I'd drill the hole to make it wider but then I got to wondering how much current the traces between holes is rated for. Will I just be moving the bottleneck from the wire to the traces?
Would I be better off getting one of those copper clad boards and doing the print transfer / ferric something-or-other bath method to make a custom board or am I just imagining problems where there won't be any?
Also I figured I need to swap my IN4001s for 1N5400 as the latter goes up to 3 amps vs the former's 1. Will that still work the same to step down the voltage or will that change that aspect as well?
I just installed the new outlet and it's no better. Then it hit me; the wire I was using to go from the USB female port to the circuit board is 24 gauge. That's probably choking off the power, right? I read that 24 gauge is only good for half an amp. So for better performance (and less fires lol) I figured I'd go with 18 gauge. My stripboard though has very tiny holes. I figured I'd drill the hole to make it wider but then I got to wondering how much current the traces between holes is rated for. Will I just be moving the bottleneck from the wire to the traces?
Would I be better off getting one of those copper clad boards and doing the print transfer / ferric something-or-other bath method to make a custom board or am I just imagining problems where there won't be any?
Also I figured I need to swap my IN4001s for 1N5400 as the latter goes up to 3 amps vs the former's 1. Will that still work the same to step down the voltage or will that change that aspect as well?