Servo drawing too much power?

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all the help so far! We are currently doing our final challenge for the semester long 8th grade robotics class. With this we are doing mountain mayhem and we have printed the front loader modules you can find on printables. To actuate these we have purchased bigger servos, these in particular:

When the students try to get them to move the xrp power cycles. Is there any way to fix this issue, or any servos of the same size that we can use around the same price point that can successfully lift the front loader?

Thank you all!

Hi there,

I’m curious to know if the brownouts occur with just the bare servos, or if there’s some mechanism attached that’s putting a lot of resistance on the output shaft, thereby consuming a large amount of current (and causing the brownout). If a mechanism is attached, could you please try disconnecting it so the rotation is unrestricted and test again?

Also, how are you powering the control board? If using batteries, make sure they’re charged. You could also try powering the control board from both the batteries and USB - the USB power should help keep the control board alive.

Hope this helps!

I will do both of those tests tomorrow in class. I believe they are attached to the front loader.

As for power, we are using just the batteries right now so I will advise to switch them out and then do dual power as well. Will report back!

1 Like

Hello again! So I ran a few of the diagnostics with the students and all of the ones listed above, running unloaded, etc. It seems the servo still pulls too much current.

Now that I ran it, it seems when it runs on Pestolink it can get to its initial position, run once when the actuating button is pressed, it actuates once, gets back to its original position and then the brown out (disconnect?) occurs.

Now that I ran it, it seems when it runs on Pestolink it can get to its initial position, run once when the actuating button is pressed, it actuates once, gets back to its original position and then the brown out (disconnect?) occurs.

That sounds like odd behavior. Was this with the mechanism detached, and powering from both charged batteries and USB? I would not expect any brownouts under that condition.

If you’re getting a disconnection from Pestolink, it’s possible the problem is not a brownout, but something else causing the wireless connection to fail. I’d be curious to know what happens if you unplug the servo from the control board, that would help indicate whether it could be something software related instead.