Problem with arduino uno moving giant servos

i have problem with moving my giant servo using a arduino uno,
i'm connecting the servo with arduino uno for Pulse and to a 6V battery for power
i'm afraid that it PWM of the arduino uno can't actuate a giant servo because my arduino can move normal size servos easily without any problem
thanks
ali yemek

It should work as long as you also connect the ground wire from the Arduino to the servo.

wouldn't that burn the arduino??? because i'm using a 6V battery and connecting it the servo to its red and black poles, so there will be no need to connect the ground (black wire) to the arduino
and dont think the arduino could handle that much current draining in it

The signal coming out of the Arduino is relative to the Arduino ground. In order for that signal to get to the servo there has to be a return wire from the servo ground to the Arduino ground. The +6V should not be a problem because it should not be able to reach the signal wire and therefore can't get to the Arduino even when the Arduino ground and battery '-' are both connected to the black wire of the servo.

ok i will try it
thank you

I am facing the same problem. I got 4 metal geared servo motor and i want to move it individually. i bought an arduino uno board. when i am adding single motor to board it is working perfectly to accurate angle. but when i am adding two or more motors to pwm pins power leds becoming dim since power is not sufficient. I am using power supply directly from usb. I even tried with 9v adapter power supply but facing same problem. SO can you help me out this problem

I am using power supply directly from usb. I even tried with 9v adapter power supply but facing same problem. SO can you help me out this problem

Those power supplies are totally inadequate for powering servos. You need to get a larger power supply capable of supplying the servos at ~6vdc.

zoomkat:

I am using power supply directly from usb. I even tried with 9v adapter power supply but facing same problem. SO can you help me out this problem

Those power supplies are totally inadequate for powering servos. You need to get a larger power supply capable of supplying the servos at ~6vdc.

Figure about 1 amp per servo, so your power supply, when loaded, needs to be able to supply 6 volts DC at 4 amps to power 4 servos (this would be "worst case" scenario, with all servos powered and stalled).

...on a side note...

I am starting to get sick of answering this question over and over again; I'd be willing to bet that you could find 50 threads (and likely a lot more) from the past year alone that address this very issue. I realize that there will always be newbies to the hobby, but in this day and age of google, why is it so hard for them to find answers?

Seriously: Is it a lack of trying, or is there really some other issue going on? I mean, I go to google, and type in "arduino servo power supply", and up comes numerous postings, threads, forums, blogs, etc - all detailing more than enough info in total for even a newbie to figure it out. I just don't understand it, and it is very frustrating to me...

It's not just this question. There's the 'WProgram.h' question, and the 'multi-tasking' question and all the others that come up time and again. There seems to be a total lack of willingness to do any research, even though there is a search box on every page here. Some people seem incapable of reading the reference pages, or the release notes, or anything that might help them before just asking someone else to do it for them.

It's what led to this excellent article Books — Matt Gemmell

Hi,
I saw 'code to ignore every sixth pulse' in the search terms directed to my blog recently. I am fairly confident that I know why the individual wanted to ignore the sixth pulse, most likely an overwrite of the value in an ISR, but the approach, find a ready built way to ignore it rather than 'what is it', 'why is it happening', 'can i fix it' is pretty sad.

Duane B.

rcarduino.blogspot.com

dxw00d:
It's what led to this excellent article Books — Matt Gemmell

That's a great article and it sums up the issue well, while providing a framework for those needing real answers toward getting them, instead of nothing, or derision at worst.

I myself especially dislike those whose question basically boils down to "do my work for me" and "give me the code"; to my old ears they sound like script kiddies looking for "0-day passwordz", if you get my drift.

Those that look like the need a nudge, or genuine help, and have shown what they have tried - well, they'll get a -ton- of help from me; I think I proved that in that R/C car hacking thread not too long back - that was a fun one, and I'm glad it turned out well in the end. In that particular case, it was about something that didn't have a lot of info available on the internet, but the poster was clearly trying to figure it out from the first post - it just sorta rolled from there.

But some things, like questions on servos and power needs; they have been answered over and over - and over again. Then again, maybe the playground - in the servo library examples, tutorials, etc - maybe they don't mention anything (if not, they should). I did notice that they do seem to indicate "connect the grounds" which is a good thing. Even so, there are plenty of other references; there really is no need to post this question at all, unless the poser of the question did connect everything up right, and used a proper power supply, and was still having problems. If that were the case, and they presented evidence of it (code, schematics, pictures, video, debug output, etc) - then they have a legitimate case, and should seek help on a forum.

So often though - this isn't the case, and it is tiring to see. Maybe the article you posted will help some. I certainly hope it does...

:slight_smile:

I think it was Nick Gammon that posted it first. Unfortunately, I suspect it will just be 'preaching to the choir'.

Unfortunately, it doesn't help that, even if they did find the servo tutorial page, it "teaches"
them to connect the servo to the +5V buss on the Arduino board, and doesn't say anything
about servo power requirenments, or about connecting and powering 12 servos, or the
difference between Arduino power and servo power, or about ground paths.

BAD DOG!!!

If the tutorial pages had some decent, ie "correct", information on them, we could just point
noobees over there. Oy.

Hi,
There is also an amount of 'information fatigue'. I have been looking for a way to rescue some ATMega's I have locked myself out of and there are 100's of pages, suggestions, approaches and worst of all countless variations of each, I am drowning in these and quite literally have got to the point where i 'just want someone to give me the answer' :frowning:

The playground is not a terribly useful resource, my guess is that people prefer to put their best and most upto date work in their own blogs (guilty). This needn't be a problem as many of us link to relevant blog content however I notice that the forum search facility seems to return older content more often than recent content, I assume that the algorithm give higher relevance based on previous visits rather than date. This is a major problem where improved and more uptodate content has been produced, but is being ignored by the search.

Anyone else suffering from information fatigue or old search results ?

Duane B.

rcarduino.blogspot.com

To search I use google (I know about the other thread on links in google pinpointing privacy issues)
Add site:arduino.cc to your search text and you have the best search engine on the world returning only Arduino content at the price of your privacy

To handle the information overload stop reading and start doing. That is what helps with me.

Best regards
Jan

I just tested it.
google for : giant servos site:arduino.cc/forum
And returned this very thread as very first hit.

Best regards
Jantje

Hi,
I will take that onboard about adding the site to the search, I am not sure that I am in the 'reading not doing' camp though. Its doing that has locked me out of the chips !

Duane B

rcarduino.blogspot.com

Some one had to do it, so here is a first draft, comments welcome -

Duane B

rcarduino.blogspot.com

comments welcome -

LOL, I hope you don't take this too critically, as we all have our own
perspectives. You did a lot of work there!

I would have:

  1. used a lot fewer words.
  2. drawn a couple of schematics, showing 1 servo and many, with special
    mention of power and grounds, servo current loops [lots of current] and
    signal current loops [little current].
  3. written a complete Arduino sketch that people could simply cut'n'paste.

But that's just me. :slight_smile: