Thread: Talking Skull Audio Driver Power Supply...

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Okay, after digging up my talking skulls two years and 100 miles of moving later, my power supplies for my talking skull drivers seem to have disappeared.

I am using the ones from Scary Terry's how to, but Ican't remember the size of the power supplies.

Is anyone else using the same boards?

I use 5VDC 1A regulated supplies. Some 5VDC phone charger warts are of sufficient amperage (800mA) to run the S-T boards.

I believe they are 6v since they can run on 4 AA batteries as well, however Cowlacious sells a 9v 500mah power supply for this, So maybe anywhere from 5v-9v 500mah or higher?

I have one of the older boards,2007, looking at the 3 wire terminal strip it says for left and center terminal 5 vdc the far left being 5 volts + and the center -. The far right is for 9-24 vdc with the far right terminal being the + and again the center being -. Hope this helps

I asked Carl Cowley specifically about the recommended voltage for powering the ST-100 and ST-200 boards two years ago. He said that any wall wart between 5V and 24V and at least 300mA should work with the boards, though he recommends 500mA. They sell a 9V 500mA supply because "sometimes the servo can surge that high, especially if it is getting more resistance than normal as it tries to move."

I use one 6V 500mA, one 6V 300mA, and one 9V 300mA (phone charger) wall wart. Both 6V wall warts run at normal temperature, but the 9V wall wart always is very warm to the touch.

Okay, the board I have isn't specifically a Cowlicious or Scary-terry board apparently.

the only writing I can see on it is on the bottom side and it says "Audio Servo" and "TK2K4"... I have tried 9v and 12v power supplies and all I get is a loud hum from the servo and it locks open.

I'm looking for downgraded power supplies like 5-6v to see if that changes. Any ideas?

Here's a pic of the board:

I see 3 pots on the board. I'll bet one of them is for adjusting the max servo travel. Have you tried adjusting them to see if you can get the servo to move?

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Yeah.. No travel out of any of the three... If I adjust the Blue one, the red LED either comes on or goes off, though.

No matter, if it's on, the servo is humming....

OK, that one would be the signal sensitivity control. Is there a set of jumper pins anywhere on the board? If so, is the jumper connector in place?

Also check the IC's for loose-fitting pins and corrosion. You mentioned that the board had been in storage for a while.