I'm working on my first big Arduino UNO project, a Stewart Platform. The important thing to note about this is that 6 different servos are being used to control this platform. With the 5V servos I'm using for this project, the total stall current when lined up in parallel is north of 7 Amps. Unfortunately, the hardware that i have access to cannot survive that level of current without overheating.
The solution I came up with is using 2 different 5V 5A power supplies, each powering 3 of the servo motors. I have a pretty good idea of how to wire them up, but there's one thing that I'm not so sure about.
From the research that I've done prior, when using an external power source with an Arduino Uno, you should have an offshoot wire from the ground that connects to the ground port of the UNO as a reference. However, In my unique scenario with 2 power supplies, and therefore 2 ground wires, should I connect each power supply to a different ground port on the UNO or put them together into one port?
Sure thing! Essentially, the servos are attached to an upper platform, and by moving the servos and employing some inverse kinematics, you can make the top platform assume different angles and positions with 6DOF. Here's a great video showing one in action: https://youtu.be/kscvCQTtVvw?si=2KMBe7a18RBJIBEu
Connect the (GND, -, negative) terminal of both power supplies together and to each servo's GND AND to the Arduino's GND. Connect the +V terminal of PS # 1 to servos # 1 and 2, Connect the +V terminal of PS # 2 to servos # 3 and 4, Connect each servos' signal wire to the chosen Arduino output pin.