Hi, I’ve been planning to do some projects with a Photon and/or an Electron, and a micro servo.
My first attempt, with an Electron and a continuous rotation servo, did not produce immediate success. : ) I plan on working on it some more.
But in the meantime, should I be looking into power supply options? The servo is 5v, which seems just out of reach of the Electron’s VIN. Some helpful observers at my local hackspace suggested that maybe there is just not enough juice to get the servo to behave reliably.
Is there a standard power supply option that people recommend?
Thanks in advance. Man, these boards are fun to play with!
DC
“just out of reach” of the electrons VIN, do you mean you are powering the servo from the electrons VIN that sits at 4.8v? when USB is connected? servos do draw a fair amount of power and make loads and loads of noise on the power lines, neither of which are good. the supply probably senses the back EMF and starts shutting down to protect itself.
4.8v should be enough for the servo, as 4 rechargeable batteries sit around that and i have used them for years in RC cars. Most servos will easily handle 6v also as that’s standard 4xAA voltage. its mostly about the current available
you could try 4xAA battery to power the servo, and then just connect the PWM and GND lines to the electron, that will let you get the code tested.