Hello @ohdj4

Which servos are you using? Third party servos? Are they metal gear?

I am using third party servos. I am using MG996R Servos. I figured they woul work because with your older versions of robots you guys were using MG995 Servos. Is this perhaps a power problem?

Thanks.

A reply from Richard R answered your question awhile ago on this post of yours from 3 months ago- https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/10290

Your putting 7.4v through a servo that can only handle up to 6.0v...it may have a peak torque of up to 7.2v, but yeah best you regulate them or get servos rated for 7.4v.

I would invest in ez-robots new HDD servos, very strong and made to handle 7.4v.

@ohdj4 It's not a power problem... The MG995 and MG996 were originally made by TowerPro... However they are pretty much all garbage now. There are so many Chinese copies (and even copies of copies) of them out there the quality now is just abysmal... Do yourself a favour and toss them in the bin and buy the new EZ Robot HDD servos...

@RichardR,

it has to be a power problem, for when the servos are in the air, they don't catch fire. but when standing or moving they catch fire.

Their rated to 6v...so pretty sure power has something to do with it...

Ive used low quality servos before, never had them catch fire. Too much power+heat=magic smoke.

Combination of bad quality and power.

... It's poor quality of the control board (mosfet)... I used them in my original inMoov @6v. Out of the 12 original 996R servos in his arms 3 went up in smoke at 6V...

See here... This one (copy?) is rated for 7.2V... There are tons more (copies) all over eBay... TowerPro MG996R

Thank you both Richard R and Newagetomy. So basically I need to buy EZ-Robot HDD Servos right?

Yes, if you want guaranteed quality servos...

@RichardR,

the Inmoov arms would weigh a bit wouldn't they?

But yes it seems with servos you get what you pay for. ;)

Thought i saw them rated for 7.2v also, but even then 7.4v would be too much for it.

The MG996 servos in question control the inMoov fingers... They are not stressed... There is no real difference between 7.2V and 7.4 volts... Most things including circuits have a built in "cushion or tolerance" for situations slightly outside the manufacture ratings... Once I forgot to add a 5V regulator to a Devantech SRF05 Ultrasonic Range Finder (rated for 5V)... It ran fine at 6v for a few months before I realized I forgot the regulator... Still works perfectly... Think about it... Going by your statement you would never be able to overclock a PC processor and every light bulb in the world would instantly burn out because of the slightest voltage ripple, etc, etc...

Ah fair enough, that's actually good to know there's a bit of a cushion there.

I asked someone recently about putting lipos on a 1/8 scale rc project i want to do, and he said no because i would be going over the voltage of what the NIMH's put out, but the difference is minimal. That spooked me a little..

Thank you both very much. That is very interesting about inMoov, probably a robot that will be my inspiration to build my first humanoid robot.

Thanks again

Joshua :)