PCA9685 setup.

[clarkd13]

hi im a noob when it comes to electronics and have recently acquired an arduino duemilanove. im looking at starting a few projects and was told that to control motors and servos, i needed a motor shield. this is when i saw this "Adafruit 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver - I2C interface - PCA9685" and it sounds like fun because you can control more than two motors (or one stepper) and i wanted to know if it could replace a motor shield or if it was still needed for it to work?

[adafruit_support_bill]

The Adafruit 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver does not need a motor shield. It is a great solution for driving a lot of servos or LEDs. In theory, you can chain up to 62 of them for a total of 992 PWM outputs.

The Adafruit MotorShield will handle up to 4 DC motors or 2 steppers, plus up to two servos.

For maximum fun, you could combine the Servo Driver and the MotorShield together, giving you DC motors, steppers and lots of servos.

[clarkd13]

thanks for the help and advice.

[AudioBody]

I have a related question. I just purchased the 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver and I'm really excited to get started with it. However, I am completely new to this stuff and I was wondering what the proper way to setup the board is. I have searched around and could not find any tutorials with this board yet.

1 - My setup is quite simple. I will be running 7 servos controlled by 7 separate buttons.

2 - How do I connect the Servo Driver board to the Arduino?

3 - Is there a way to power both the Arduino and the Server Driver board with the same 9 volt adapter, or will they need to be powered separately?

4 - Should I be using a capacitor on the board? If so, what type would you recommend?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[adafruit_support_bill]

Connect SCL to analog 5, SDA to analog 4. GND to GND, VCC to 5v.

You will definitely want a separate power supply for the servos (connect it to GND & V+). You will want something in the 5-6v range and at least 2A for that many servos. This one should work well: https://www.adafruit.com/products/276 A 4-cell battery pack will work well also. https://www.adafruit.com/products/830

A capacitor is necessary only if you are experiencing problems such as erratic operation caused by servo noise or current peaks.

[AudioBody]

Thank you very much! That was exactly the information I needed.