Ok, but the servo then will be in locked position, therefore drawing some current no?
If I use two of the i2c boards @Benjamin269 recommended, could I actually power each servo off. I also would not need to use a Mega in that case, I could just use a UNO since it does not need all the pins to communicate?
No. On the Adafruit board, all servo power leads are directly connected to the common 5V and GND traces.
Gotcha @jremington .
So there is no real advantage to using the i2c boards over the custom servo power distributor, since I already have a MEGA to drive it. I suppouse this would also be viable?
You can't power an Arduino with 5V on Vin (the barrel jack) -- 7V minimum for the Uno.
Gotcha. I think I am going to go with the 2 custom built servo power distributors you provided and the current MEGA for pulsing the servos.
On to the soldering desk and to order the power supply.
Do you think the one I mentioned is overkill? Do you have one you would recommend?
Hopefully I can get this working properly and safely. Once I do, I will do a writeup for others that might want to tackle this project.
Thanks again for your help.
Based on input, this is my final design that I will pursue. If the power supply proves to be too weak I might have to up the ante:
Any feedback is appreciated!
Note that servos typically run on 4.8 to maybe 7.2V (4 to 6x NiCd Batteries in series, originally.)
Don't try to connect a 12V supply to your servos, unless they are specifically 12V servos!
Since the power supply I am looking at is adjustable (0-48V) I should be able to run all outputs at 5V no?
Yes, but that supply is bigger, more versatile, and more expensive than you need. I would go with two of something like this:
They are adjustable, just not up to 40v, but you can probably adjust it up to 6v if it improves performance.
Connect one to each shield and you could probably drive all 30 servos at once, depending upon servo size.
Yes, that shield will fit directly on an Duemilanove, Diecimila, UNO, Leonardo, Mega R3+, ADK R3+. The only pins required to run are the Ground , 5V and SDA + SCL I2C control pins, so it would really run on any Arduino.
Just curious, have you developed the clock face part of the project yet? I would be interested in seeing it run when you get it all working.
That's great info @Benjamin269 . That power supply is definitively more affordable! Thanks
As to the question… Yes! I have all the parts completed, I even had an early version running off the board power!
I posted a video of it running:
@jremington and @Benjamin269:
Perhaps the homeliest board in history! But it works!
Now to build the second one!
@jremington and @Benjamin269:
Finished!
Ended up using only 23 servos (using 12 hour format and don't need/want the separators to animate.
Thanks for your help.
