Apparently its bad to connect a servo/motor directly to an Arduino board. Why is it bad? Does it apply for both motors and servos?
Thanks From,
Jemerill
Apparently its bad to connect a servo/motor directly to an Arduino board. Why is it bad? Does it apply for both motors and servos?
Thanks From,
Jemerill
Because (among others) servos may take a lot more current than the outputs can supply.
but lets say Im using a mini sevo which can work on 4.8V - 6.0V then we connect it to the 5V socket, is there anything wrong with that?
It's not about voltage, it's about current.
A 5V device like a light-bulb can take even 1A (if the bulb is 5W, for example), which is way beyond the limit of arduino's outputs (about 20mA).
You need a shield. That also allows to control the rotation of the motor in both directions.
ok I understand thanks
Read the two links in my signature for a video of the problem and solution
Duane B
Ofcourse Im new to arduino, but in the future I plan to make a robot. I wil need to control 1 servo and 2 dc motors, would you suggest using the Arduino motor shield, can this shield control all three at once?
Pretty much is dependent on the size of the motors... and the capabilities of the shield.
Doc
But without a shield it would always be ok to hook the servo control wire to the Arduino and a power source directly to the servo, with a common ground so the signal works, wouldn't it?
Something like the attached Fritzing pic...
Yes, that would work if you used a 4 battery pack. 5-6V.
This is real close to how we control the servos on RC cars. Use a 9V battery into Vcc to run the arduino then the large RC car battery runs the servos & Car motor. Tie the two grounds together to keep the levels happy. Works great.
-jim lee
jimLee:
Yes, that would work
See, I'm not such a dumb civil engineer (aka "mud mechanic") after all.... (I'm trying to keep one step ahead of my 16yo daughter here.)