I am starting a project where I will need to control 24 servos autonomously by way of touch, light, and motion sensors. I will be purchasing all of my materials at once and need to make sure that they are all compatible.
Right now the plan is to use the Arduino Mega 2560 R3 to control the Mini Maestro 24-Channel USB Servo Controller that will then control the servos. The servos I have are of various sizes but all rated at 6 volts (some are digital while others are analog). I also have the SmartWAV intelligent Embedded Audio Processor to output sound.
Will these components work well together?
What sensors are best to work with Arduino and do I need a shield?
What battery should I look for? I’m guessing a 6 volt battery with the ability to discharge 20 amps.
What types of wires and connections do I need to connect all of this together?
I am not familiar with the SmartWAV intelligent Embedded Audio Processor, but the other two should work fine together. The Arduino Mega 2560 R3 has 5V-level UARTs that can be used to talk to the Maestro.
The Arduino has a general purpose microcontroller on it. Anything analog or digital signal that is in or you can shift to the 0-5V range should work well. The microcontroller also has I2C, serial, and SPI capabilities which let you interface with more complex sensors. You do not need a shield. Shields sometimes make it easier to make the connections.
Your choice of a battery for the servo power sounds good. You are going to need a separate power source for the Arduino because the input voltage range is 7-12V.
To connect the Arduino to the Maestro, you can use our Male to Female jumper wires. Thick wires for servo power. For 24 servos, you might want to consider running your servo power off the board because you might be getting to the point of maxing out what the board’s copper planes can do (depending on if all of your servos are straining at once).
