Thread: Servo power and wiring

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Greetings everybody,

I don't know about you, but I've already started preparing for next year. Does that make me crazy or just enthusiastic?

Anyway, I'm getting really confused here. I'm trying to build a complete haunt control center. But I can't decide what PSU to use, or even where to get it. (I live in Europe :O)

For next year I want to be able to control 30 servo's. To that and end I already have one Pololu control board capable of controlling 6 servo's. I'm going to add one which is capable of controlling 24 servo's.

I'm going to use all kinds of different servo's. Buckaneerdude has inspired me to try and start controlling the arms of some of my props.

The estimated average power draw of a servo is 1 amp. Now, they run between 4 and 6 volts. I'd rather have them run on 6 volts because of the torque requirement. But where the hell am I going to get a PSU capable of atleast 30 amps (more is better I guess) with a 6 volt output. (One nasty thing is it obviously has to have an AC input of 220-230 volts, which is what we use over here)

Any idea's? Or am I overreacting?

What cable should I use between the servo board and the PSU.

Oh questions questions....

Any assistance is appreciated! Thanks

Find a 5VDC power supply that has plenty of current output. I found a 100 amp 5VDC power supply!

There are many more 5VDC power supplies to choose from and they are much cheaper than trying to find a 6VDC one.

It would run on either 120VAC or 220-230VAC.

On most power supplies of this sort, there is a voltage output adjustment pot. I was able to get mine pretty close to 6VDC by cranking that all the way up.

Well yeah, I've found an affordable 5volt power supply which can supply 45 amps of current. Should be sufficient to deal with any spikes I hope. Unfortunately it can only run on 5 volts. Haven't been able to find any adjustable PSU's here.

here is one from Jameco its 5V at 40Amps

I already found that one, but Thanks for looking!

I can get that psu here in Holland aswell.

Perhaps I can put a convertor in between to make it 6 volt.

I was reading this and have a question for you , why do you need 6 volts? I run all my servos on a 4.5 power supply and a 5 volt power supply . I have run them on 6 volts but I couldn't see any real difference in the performance of the servos? just wondering........


Edit:

Just to make sure .......one group of servos on a 4.5 voltpower supply and another group on a 5 volt power supply..........

Well manufacturers state that gunning the servo's with higher voltage gives them more torque. Generally more torque is better since I'm not completely sure how much I need per servo. I know the difference isn't that big. But it coupe be the edge I need. Not sure however. It's interesting to read your experiences.