machtoo Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 I am working on sequences for my servo dog controllers and have one hooked up to 4 servos in a skull for visualization. The voltage regulators (aluminum heat sinks near servo connections) seem to get very hot even at idle/neutral. Is this normal? Has anyone else seen the symptom?I'm wondering if it would be better to run a separate 5 v supply for the servos. Using a single 12 v supply to the board right now.
Al in Raleigh Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 The heatsinks getting warm is normal. If the servos are energized but static then current is being sent to them. The regulators should be warm but not burn you. I powered 8 high torque servos off the Servodog and the regulators did get warm. Are your servos 6 volts or 5 volts? By default the SerovDog comes from the factory set to 6 Volts. The user manual gives details on adjusting the voltage regulators.I'm located in Raleigh too. We have a local group that meets and our last meeting was a week ago. I gave a presentation on the ServoDog controller. If you are interested in attending then PM me for details.Al
machtoo Posted February 27, 2010 Author Posted February 27, 2010 Let me know when you meet and I will try to make it. My website ishttp://www.tauntonstales.comThe board underneath the regulators was too hot to hold your fingers on. I am a EE by discipline. This board may have an issue as it has one channel that chatters constantly when playing a sequence from the sequence editor (sent a note to LOR about that one). I have four boards total. Will have 320 channels for Christmas this year. Plan to use two 1602s with MP3 players for Halloween ...one for the light and music show and one for the quartet. 4 servo dogs for the quartet and 64 LOR channels for the light and music show in 1602s.The board is driving a prototype Bucky skull with 4 servos (3 Hitec 245BB and one 625MG). Balance isn't perfect so there is some load on the servos. They are pulling some current I'm sure.I have 4 skulls from Graveyard skulls being built for a Halloween quartet.
Al in Raleigh Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 You board sounds bad. The chattering is not normal. My servos hum but that is by nature of how they hold. I hope a firmware fix comes out this year to stop the servos from driving all the way to one side when turned off.Our TASL meeting notices are posted on ChristmasCarolina.com which is our principle forum.Al
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