Servo Motor Works with One Code but Not Another

Using Arduino Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hello all,

I encountered a very strange problem with my servo motors and I am driving myself nuts trying to solve the issue. Basically, when I uploaded a piece of working code that I previously wrote I am able to drive the servo, so I know for sure that the motor itself, the connection, nor the board are faulty. However when I upload a very simple code that only calls servo.write() method for some reason the servo doesn't move at all and doesn't even make a sound. I made sure the program is executing by serial printing. That made me believe that the only issue is in the code but I just don't understand how it could be different. My old code that works creates a class for writing into the servo but fundamentally I am calling the same method servo.write(). Here is the "simple code" I can't get to work. If I could get any insight that would be greatly appreciated! I am powering the servo using a separate 5V external source and I made sure that the servo is still working by uploading the old code. Thanks!

#include <Servo.h>
Servo myservo;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  myservo.attach(2);
}

void loop() {
  myservo.write(50); 
  Serial.print(myservo.read());
  delay(1000);
  
  myservo.write(100);           
  Serial.print(myservo.read());      
  delay(1000);                     

}

For your reference, here is the old code that uses class:

--------------Header-----------------
class gripper {
  private:
    byte pin;
    int gripAngle;
    int ungripAngle;
    
  public:
    Servo servo1;
    int currentAngle;
    gripper(byte pin);
    void init();
    void grip();
    void ungrip();
    void grip(int rate);
    void printCurrentAngle(); 
};

-------------Implmentation-----------
#include "gripper.h"

gripper::gripper(byte pin) {
  this->pin = pin;
  ungripAngle=80;
  gripAngle=10;
}
void gripper::init() {
  servo1.attach(pin);
  servo1.detach();
}
void gripper::grip() {
  servo1.attach(pin);
  servo1.write(gripAngle);
  delay(500);
  printCurrentAngle();
  servo1.detach();

}
void gripper::ungrip() {
  servo1.attach(pin);
  servo1.write(ungripAngle);
  delay(500);
  printCurrentAngle();
  servo1.detach();
}

void gripper::grip(int rate) {
  int current = servo1.read();
  servo1.attach(pin);
  
  for (int i = current; i >= gripAngle; i--) {
    servo1.write(i);    
    printCurrentAngle();    
    
    delay(rate);
  }
  
  servo1.detach();

}

void gripper::printCurrentAngle(){
  Serial.print("Current Angle: ");
  Serial.print(servo1.read());
  Serial.print("\t");
  }
--------------------------------------
2

@antwang64

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Thanks to all those who helped and added to this list.

3

What do the Serial.prints say? What are the servo + wire, - wire and signal wire connected to?

4

The main difference I can see is that the old code is doing multiple writes moving only 1 degree at a time. The new code is trying to move in big jumps which takes more power. That can causes problem if the servo power is marginal. What servo do you have and what exactly is the "separate 5V external source"?

Steve

5

The external power source is a wall plug 5V power supply. Turns out that I need to ground the Arduino board to the same GND as the motors, at least that did the trick for me!

It is weird however that when I didn't ground the board my old code that uses class still worked....

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

6

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