Total current usage

What I've been thinking about lately is current. I ordered a 6-AA battery holder, which means I have about 6 Ah using NiMH batteries , according to http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Energy-tables.html.

I'm assuming the RPi draws 1A and the 2 dc motors will draw a total of 2.4A (from the TB6612FNG spec: http://www.pololu.com/file/0J86/TB6612FNG.pdf). This means I have a total of 3.4A with everything turned on.

This graph from http://www.powerstream.com/AA-tests.htm shows that at about 3.4 A, I should have somewhere between 1.0 to 1.25V.


With the voltage step down converter I bought, the LM2596, I'm hoping it can keep the voltage at ~5V to power my RPi.

This is nice youtube video testing the LM2596:

Update: on the LM2596 spec, it says it can supply up to 3 A reliably: 

http://www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/LM2596-D.PDF

This means I'll have to run 2 of these, one for the RPi, the other for the motors.