Unexpected voltage drop

Question

I am switching 5V relay with an Arduino Nano. When using USB cable as power source, everything works as it i supposed to. When using external source in form of batteries,(First I tried 9V battery, then 4xAA 1.5V batteries) when I switch relay, the voltage drops to 4.7 V from 5V pin to GND.Battery voltage at input stays at 6V. What might be causing this?

Schematic

Draw a schematic showing everything between the battery and the load, including the relay. You can add a schematic by clicking "edit" just above this comment, then looking for an icon which looks like a schematic with a pencil over it. — Jack B, Apr 20 '17 at 09:46
I hope you're NOT trying to drive the relay from the arduino 5V regulated supply. — JIm Dearden, Apr 20 '17 at 09:57
I am driving it from digital pin with digitalWrite(2,HIGH); Why? — Willy Wonka, Apr 20 '17 at 09:58
Perhaps you should google "how to drive a relay with arduino". Start by reading this for example. You current question is unclear: you say the voltage drops but don't indicate which voltage you're talking about. — Dmitry Grigoryev, Apr 21 '17 at 08:46

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 24 '17 at 11:42

The Arduino regulator does not Supply enough current to drive a relay coil, and as a result the voltage drops. To drive your relay properly, you need a driver circuit, which Wired explains better than I would:

How To Move Big Electrons With an Arduino

The reason why it works with a USB cable is because it supplies the 5V directly to the +5V net, without going through the series regulator.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 20 '17 at 10:23

The way you're supplying the relay's coil, considering its current requirement and the Arduino output capability, the driving pin won't survive that long :D

Use an external 300mA+ rated transistor which you could drive from the Arduino's pin (Low Vgs-th MOSFET for example)

Unexpected voltage drop

2 Answers2