Power and the 8 servo controller

The 8 servo controller can be powered by two different ways. I put a VCC = VS jumper in place and want to power the board and servos from the servo power jumpers. I want to use a battery like:

battstore.stores.yahoo.net/6volt8amp.html

It is a 6 volt 8 amp/hr AGM/Gel battery like what is used in a power wheels car. I am told they put out really something like 6.3 volts… will this destroy my servos or my servo controller board? Or will I need to make or buy a regulator? I will have 3 to 4 servos on the board; I would like to run them at 6 volts not 4.8. Any help would be great.

It will depend on the servos and the fully charged voltage of your battery, but you can probably get away with powering them directly. I wouldn’t recommend using it with the VCC=VS jumper though, as that will connect the battery voltage directly to the microcontroller. You can use just one battery, but you should split it and run wires to both the servo power and VIN pins.

-Adam

I did know you could run power for the board from the VIN, i just figured if i split it like you said it was the same as if i did the jumper between the VCC and VS. Mainly since i was only using 6 volts which was acceptable for both power contact points. Do i need to worry about a regulator at all? Also what did you mean by the voltage of the fully charged battery, would’nt it be 6 volts?

Servos i am running are:

hitec HS475HB
hitec HS805BB in a servocity gearbox
GWS S03T std

The VIN pin is connected to a voltage regulator which protects the servo controller electronics, but the VCC=VS jumper bypasses the regulator, so the microcontroller (which is only rated to 5.5V) is connected directly to the battery. With that battery you should definitely split the positive wire to both the servo power and VIN pins, and leave the VCC=VS jumper off. You can probably get away with connecting the battery ground to just the servo ground line.

6V is the “nominal” voltage of your battery pack, fully charged it will be closer to 6.8V, which is probably still fine for those servos.

-Adam

thanks Adam for your help. I will remove the jumper and do as you suggest… thanks again…