I know that this may be a simple question for some but I am having a hard time figuring out a proper answer for this.
I have 6 servos on a breadboard (I know, the worst thing I could do) and have them connected so that all 6 power wires are connected behind each other and all ground wires lead into one wire back to Arduino GND. I have 4 AA Alkalines in a battery pack at the end of the rail (Sorry I dont have a schematic, I am in a rush to have this completed for Wednesday).
I have access to Ceramic Capacitators, normal capacitators and voltage regulators.
If you could suggest a way with a breadboard that would be teriffic, if not the most I could do at this stage is some copper stripboard/
Thanks,
Justin
It would have helped if you'd given some details of what servos you're using.
But one basic thing that MIGHT help is to connect the ground and positive from the battery in the centre of the breadboard rails so there are 3 servo connections each side of them. Keeps runs through that rotten breadboard about as short as possible. If that doesn't do it then soldered stripboard would definitely be better.
The alkallnes might be o.k. (depends on the servos) but swapping to NiMH rechargeable AAs might help as they are generally better at producing short-term current surges. They're lower voltage than alkalines so ideally you'd use 5 but 4 will probably be o.k.
Sorry, like I said I've to get this done in 2 days and I have bits all over the place. The way I have my servos now does work, but I wasn't sure if it was "safe" to do so. They require about 4.8V and are HiTEC HS-311 standard (that probably didn't help).
I know that breadboards aren't usually supposed to take that amount of current, but that problem never occured to me until now.
"Sorry, like I said I've to get this done in 2 days and I have bits all over the place."
You need to learn how to solder quick. Use wire for power leads from the battery pack to the servos. The typical battery packs are poor for higher current motor loads.
Six HiTEC HS-311 servos on AA batteries is a stretch, and they will work much better at 6v than the low spec 4.8v. You might go and get four D sized alkaline or rechargeable batteries and see if the servos will perform better/longer.
