The following is an overview of how to set the power configurations on the gogoboard. You would want to do this only when the device that you want to control needs more power than what the gogoboard normally supplies (5v 1Amp max.) For example, you may want to control a 12V DC motor.

Jumper Settings

The basic idea is that you can choose to use either the regulated power (5V and max 1Amp) or just use the unregulated power which is basically whatever power you feed to the AC input plug of the board. You configure this by changing the arrangements of the power jumpers. This is different depending on the version of the gogoboard you have.

GoGo Board version 3.0 (including 2.3b)

The default setting (jumper 1&3 shorted) will always provide 5V to the motor ports. The combined power must not exceed 1Amp as that is the limitation of the power regulator. In practice, the actual current available will be a bit less because other components of the board will need some of that current as well.

The separate supply mode allows the motor ports to supply higher voltage and higher current. The board electronics are powered by the batteries while the motor ports are supplied by the AC adapter. So, for example, if you use a 12V AC adapter, the output will also be 12V. The maximum voltage and current are limited by the motor driver chip, which is 36V and 1Amp per port. But in practice, the maximum should be around 24V. The maximum amperage will also depend on how well you dissipate the heat. The chip can get pretty hot and you should consider using a heat sink.

GoGo Board version 3.5

The default mode (jumper 2 shorted) is the same as the gogoboard 3.0 version. It will always provide 5V to the motor ports. The combined power must not exceed 1Amp as that is the limitation of the power regulator.

The pass through mode will pass the input voltage from the batteries or AC adapter to the motor ports. It is similar to the separate supply of the gogoboard 3.0 version, except that you only need one power source (batteries or AC adapter.) The board will split the power to feed the gogoboard electronics and the motor ports for you. The maximum input voltage from an AC adapter is 20V (limited by the reverse bias protection diode) and the maximum current per motor port is 1Amp (limited by the motor driver chip.) Please consider heat sinks when using high voltage and current.