I seem to be overwhelming my mini maestro.
Using the pololu Arduino libraray I have the following code. The code works absolutely fine when using delays to split up the movements. But if I comment out the delays and use the while loops checking for the moving state going low, it absolutely spits the dummy. It works ok if I have the servos moving very slowly, i.e. around 4 in the control center. But if I speed them up to a moderate pace, say 20 then I get Error bit 1 and error bit 4 coming up.
Any Ideas of what I should be looking at? Am I checking the moving state wrong? Is noise from my servos moving too fast upsetting life? I have a scope to check things, but nothing seems to obscene
while(true){
Serial.println("Moving");
maestro.setTarget(6,1200*4);
maestro.setTarget(7,1200*4);
maestro.setTarget(8,1200*4);
maestro.setTarget(9,1200*4);
maestro.setTarget(10,1200*4);
maestro.setTarget(11,1200*4);
delay(1000);
//while(maestro.getMovingState()==1){delay(100);}
maestro.setTarget(6,1800*4);
maestro.setTarget(7,1800*4);
maestro.setTarget(8,1800*4);
maestro.setTarget(9,1800*4);
maestro.setTarget(10,1800*4);
maestro.setTarget(11,1800*4);
delay(1000);
// while(maestro.getMovingState()==1){delay(100);}
}
Hello.
I am sorry you are having problems with your Mini Maestro. We would like to look a little deeper into the problem you are describing. Could you tell us more about your setup? Which microcontroller board are you using? Could you post your complete code? Also, could you post your Maestro settings file? You can save the Maestro settings file by selecting the “Save Settings File…” option from within the “File” drop-down menu in the Maestro Control Center.
-Brandon
Digging into a bit more it seems to only be occurring when driving my larger servos. I have two types of servos in the system, 7 MKS DS-95i’s and 8 Protek 170S’. It does not have the problem if the servo power is switched off. And it does not have the problem if I just move the smaller MKS servo’s. 2 or 3 proteks are fine, but if I have 4 or move moving quickly that is when the problems start.
I will get you the things you need tonight
Since it only happens when you use the bigger servos, I suspect it might be a power issue. Could you list the voltage and current ratings of the power supply you are using? We typically recommend budgeting around 1A per standard servo. However, we also do not recommend putting more than 6A through the power rails on the Maestro, so if you expect your servos to draw more than 6A total, you should probably power the servos separately from the Maestro. Please note that in this configuration, you will still need to have a common ground between the servo power and the Maestro.
-Brandon
