I would like to control a HerkuleX DRS-0201 with my arduino. I will be running the motor at 12V. Eventually I may need to control two of these motors. This motor will be used to turn a mechanism for an automotive application. I was using a wiper motor with limit switches, but this set up is very clunky. Not to mention the wiper motor is 3 times the torque that I need. I will be using a pot to control this motor via Xbee. I already have this working with a small servo...
Is the best option to run a shield that can handle 12V? Or should I get a separate contoller? Does anyone have any recommendations?
As far as I can see you don't need any shield with those servos (or any other servo, for that matter). You just need to connect the 12v power to the servos and the control Rx Tx and GND to the Arduino.
What Arduino are you using?
An Uno only has one hardware serial connection which is normally used to communicate with your PC. You can use SoftwareSerial to create another serial connection, but I'm not sure how well it will work with those devices because it cannot talk and listen at the same time.
A Mega has 4 hardware serial connections
A Leonardo does not use its hardware serial connection to talk to the PC so it would be available for your servos.
have you used Google to search for someone with existing Arduino code for these servos.
...R
By the way, the reason I had not heard of it is because the simple servos I have cost 1/20th of the price
I am using two Uno's for this project. Can you recommend a servo that can be operated at 12v with the same torque rating? I don't need that particular servo, it is expensive. It just kept coming up when searching for 12v servos. Also should I buy a mega for the motor side?
Why do you need two Unos? If one will do it will make the programming a lot easier.
I presume you are looking for a 12v servo so it can be powered from the car's 12v system. You should be aware that the voltage can rise to 14v or a bit more.
The standard servos use 4 to 6v and some of them have very high torque. HobbyKing sells a wide range. Or just Google high torque servo. It might be easier and cheaper to arrange for voltage reduction.
Ok.... So... If I have a sensor at one end of the vehicle (pot) and the servo at the other end of the vehicle, then I have to either run wires from the sensor to the arduino or from the servo to the arduino (if there is only one arduino involved) . So I'd be running wires from one end of the vehicle to the other. Not too too bad with one sensor and one servo but I may have many sensors and 3 or 4 servos all at different locations. So by using an arduino with Xbee I can then wirelessly send sensor information to the servo hooked up to another arduino. Now there is a very good chance I may have a different sensor near a servo. So this also allows me to send that sensor information to another servo. I can on the fly switch what information I want to go to any of the other arduinos.
What I have now is just getting things developed with one sensor on one arduino sending info to wirelessly control a servo attached to the other arduino. I hope I didn't make things more confusing!
Also by the "motor" side I meant the arduino attached to the servo. So what I meant was should I get a Mega for receiving the signal via Xbee then controlling the servo(s).
It's perfectly reasonable to use 2 Arduinos if they are far apart. You had not said that at the outset. Have you confirmed that XBee will work in the noisy metallic environment of a vehicle? You could use two Arduinos and connect them by wire - probably just need 3 wires to convey data. Cheaper than XBees also.
A servo just needs a connection from the signal wire to the appropriate Arduino pin and a connection from servo GND to Arduino GND. The servo must NOT be powered from the Arduino 5v pin - it cannot supply enough current.
The only reason to use a Mega would be if you want to control more servos than an Uno can manage or for some other reason connected with the extra resources of a Mega,
