arduino and servo motor not working

hello,

I am trying to control servos using firefly and grasshopper.

I have connected it correctly (as far as i know) following tutorials. The servos receive a signal and power from the arduino board. I can tell this because the servo is squeaking and when i change the number slider the pitch of the squeaking changes. I am assuming this is because it doesnt get enough power??

Can anyone help me please?

Michael

The servos receive ... power from the arduino board.

No, don't do that! Give them their own power, and join that power supply's ground wire to the Arduino ground.

Edit: Yes, the tutorials show a servo powered from the Arduino; it's generally regarded as bad practice, even if it might work for one lightly loaded servo drawing little current.

More edit: Zoomkat's well known schematic shows how.

Hi

Thanks for the reply. I will test this when I have time.

However, I have seen micro servo motors work without any independent power supply so I am thinking that the power is not the problem.

I am using the tower pro sg90 servos.

OP:

I am assuming this is because it doesnt get enough power??

Me:

Give them their own power

OP:

I am thinking that the power is not the problem.

If you search the forum for servo problems, I'd bet 90% of the problems are power related, and of those, 99% are due to powering from the Arduino pins.

I will test this when I have time.

No rush.... it's your project :stuck_out_tongue:

mboalch:
Hi

Thanks for the reply. I will test this when I have time.

However, I have seen micro servo motors work without any independent power supply so I am thinking that the power is not the problem.

I am using the tower pro sg90 servos.

Servos, like all motors, can put out dangerous inductive spikes on the power supply, and
certainly lots of noise, and usually crow-bar it down to a few volts when under load.

Just don't share power between motors and microcontrollers, its really not a good idea.
Remember if the Arduino is powered from USB you are risking damaging the host
computer, not just the Arduino.

Depending on the USB power supply and existing loads on the arduino, a 9g servo may operate unloaded powered from the arduino. A significant number of servo issues posted in the forum turn out to be poor/inappropriate power sources such as powering from the arduino 5v.

Lets face it, 95% of servo related issues are probably power-related!