Powering Servo shield

[mafieulemouton]

Hi,
I'm using your servo shield, with a battery to power arduino and a second one to power the servo shield.
However, for my project it is not good to have two batteries racks, would it be ok to power both with only one battery rack?

I understood I must not use the 5v output from arduino to power the adafruit servo shield, but can I connect both in parallel on the same battery rack?

Thanks for your help

[adafruit_support_bill]

What is the voltage of your battery pack? How many and what type of servos are you using?
The power to the servo shield should be at a voltage safe for your servos. Most servos are designed for 5-6v operation.

[mafieulemouton]

At the moment I'm using a battery pack of 4 AA (so 6v) for the servo shield, and the arduino is powered with a 5V 2A 10000mAH external battery for smartphone.

I am driving standard sized servos:
*One 15kg/cm (180°)
*One servo winch 8kg/cm
*I would like to drive as well an ESC for brushless motor (I don't know yet how to do this but I understood it would be a pwm like servos)
*I may add later two more servo winch.

[adafruit_support_bill]

You should be able to power them all from the same pack. Just run separate power wires from the pack to the servo board and from the pack to the Arduino. This will minimize any noise and power fluctuations that might feed back from the servos to the Arduino.

[mafieulemouton]

Hi, thanks for your help. I tried to power both arduino and servo shield and it seemed not to be powerfull enougth.
Then I tried to power both with the same 4 AA batterys: at leat its powered (servo moving a bit, the two leds from your shield lit), but:
[*]My I2C bluetooth shield (1Shield) is not responding
[*]I get strange feedbacks between my servos: if I manually move one, it moves the other randomly.

[adafruit_support_bill]

Post a photo and/or a diagram showing how you have everything hooked up.

[mafieulemouton]

Hi,
I will take pictures when I get home.
I was thinking: I'm using 4 AA batterys, so 6V max, it it even enought for arduino? some forum says we should use 6 AA batterys to get 9V, but then it would be to much for servomotors.
Is there a 6V regulator in your servo shield, or should I add One? (and if yes, which one?)

Thanks for your help

[adafruit_support_bill]

You can power the Arduino either with 5v via the USB port or with 7v-12v via DC barrel jack.
Most servos are designed for 5v-6v. Many of the high-torque servos can handle more than 7v, but check with your servo manufacturer specifications.

If you want to use a single battery pack, you can keep your 6v pack and use one of these to get the 5v USB power for the Arduino: https://www.adafruit.com/products/2190

Or you could use a 7.2v NiMH rechargeable pack from Radio Shack and power the Arduino through the DC jack But make sure your servos can handle it.

[mafieulemouton]

Hi,
I tried to keep my 6v AA pack, adding a 5V regulator.
The 6 volts are powering the servo shield, and the 5V fro; regulator powering the arduino USB. Both Led are lit, so I guess it should be good, however my bluetooth shied is not working (1Shield).
I ordered a 6 volts regulator I will solder to the servo shield, this way I will be able to use safely any voltage for my servos. I hope next try will be the good one.
I'll keep you informed

[mafieulemouton]

Hi, I solved my issue like that:
I use now a 8 AA pack, directly wired to arduino and wired to servo shield through a 6V regulator.
The regulator has to be powerfull enought for several servos, and everything is workin' fine.

I plan later to replace my AA pack with a Li-Po battery, since I need one to add a brushless motor

[adafruit_support_bill]

I use now a 8 AA pack, directly wired to arduino and wired to servo shield through a 6V regulator.

What kind of regulator are you using? If it is something like a 7806, anything over 7v is just going to be wasted as heat. You would be better off with a 5x or 6xAA pack.

[mafieulemouton]

I am using this one: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00NMC5UTE

I tried with 5 and 6 AA but I couldn't get it working. Anyway, since I will add soon a 11v LiPo for my brushless motor, This way everything will be powered with only one.

[adafruit_support_bill]

I am using this one: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00NMC5UTE

OK. That is a switching regulator so it should be fairly efficient.

[mafieulemouton]

Nice, thanks fort helping!