PWM/Servo Shield Smoking problem

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fxmech
 
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PWM/Servo Shield Smoking problem

Post by fxmech »

I was running a PWM/Servo Shield with 7 high torque standard sized digital servos and when they all ran I saw smoke.
Fried the 3 pin component just below the Blue connector for the main servo power and the traces around it.

I looked at the data sheet for the servos and under stall conditions each can draw up to 3A!!!

My solution was to build a higher current board to tie the positive and negative servo pins together and fed them 5V directly instead of through the shield. only the signal wires and a common GND went back to the shield.

I was wondering what this 3 pin component is and if there is a way to bypass it in order to avoid having to build a board that really only duplicates what's already on your board.
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Franklin97355
 
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Re: PWM/Servo Shield Smoking problem

Post by Franklin97355 »

That chip is reverse polarity protection for the power supplied by the blue terminals just next to it. Are you providing power through the blue terminals? The Arduino can't power high torque servos through it's power pins.

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fxmech
 
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Re: PWM/Servo Shield Smoking problem

Post by fxmech »

I was when it burned out....
Now I am running power straight to the servos not through the blue connector

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: PWM/Servo Shield Smoking problem

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

It is possible to bypass the MOSFET with a jumper. You can go right from the positive terminal of the power connector to the "+" pad for the capacitor.
You can also just run power to a spare position on one of the servo headers.

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