Pololu Wixel Shield for Arduino - Manual (Page 4)

Voltage Dividers
The shield has four general-purpose 2/3 voltage dividers that can be accessed by the lower “HV” and “LV” pins
(pictured above) located between the Wixel socket pins. These voltage dividers can be used to safely connect
5 V outputs to the Wixel’s 3.3 V inputs: connect the 5 V signal to one of the four HV pins and then connect the
corresponding LV pin to the Wixel pin of your choosing. The voltage dividers are not connected to anything by
default.
MOSFET Circuits
The shield has two general-purpose MOSFET circuits that can be accessed by the upper “HV” and “LV” pins
(pictured above) located between the Wixel socket pins. These circuits can be used as inverters, level-shifters (e.g. to
convert a 3.3 V Wixel output to a 5 V signal), or for driving larger loads (up to 200 mA) than you can with a Wixel
or Arduino I/O pin alone (e.g. high-current LEDs or relays). The MOSFET circuits are not connected to anything
by default. The circuit incorporates a BSS138 MOSFET (N-channel, 50 V, 200 mA, 1.5 V maximum gate threshold
voltage).
Pololu Wixel Shield for Arduino User's Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation
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