I’m using a Pololu Micro Maestro to control 6 servos. When one or two servos are overloaded potentially all servos start to jitter randomly. The effect seems to be less pronounced when increasing pulse control period to 30ms.
Hello,
If you have a problem that happens only when servos are overloaded, your power supply is probably not sufficient. What power supply are you using, and how many servos do you have?
-Paul
Hi,
I’m using a 6V/500ma (thus 3W) power supply with 6 servos. Typing this reply I realize that’s indeed not a lot… Any ballpark number for a typical consumption per servo (could not find a hint on the servo spec sheet)? What would be the maximum current which could be routed over the Maestro board to the servos?
-Stefan
Hello,
Yeah, that is not nearly enough. A typical servo, when straining, might take about 1A, though of course this depends on the specs of your servo. You should really try to get a supply that can do close to 6A if possible, or make sure that only a couple of servos are ever under load at the same time. The Micro Maestro should be able to handle that current (and more) along the servo power and ground lines, but make sure that you connect power and ground there, right next to the servos, and not to some other part of board.
By the way, make sure that your 6V/500ma supply (and whatever you upgrade to) is not an unregulated wall-wart - these might provide 9V or more when a current under 500mA is being drawn, which could damage your servos. Some servos are not even rated for 6V, so be careful!
-Paul