allanonmage
It's not just me; went to a makerspace and even the latest issue of servo can't figure out the EZ Robot software.
I bought my EZBv4 when it was brand spanking new in 2014 and mated it to a RoboPhilo. Couldn't figure out how to program it the way I wanted. Posted on the forum and got defensive deflections telling me to RTFM N00B. I got 110% certified (website could not count correctly), but still had no idea how to program the thing.
One of my old threads got necrolized and reminded me I had a $500 robot and a $100ish controller collecting dust.
I took the setup to a local makerspace, downloaded the latest version of ARC, and out of the 3 of us, we could not figure out what was wrong or how it was supposed to be programmed.
This month's servo magazine has an article about the EZBv4, and the opening jist is that the software doesn't do what he wants, so he programs in something else and makes a direct connection to the board, also saying that the software was kludgy and gimmicky.
Now that you're up to speed, I think I might have a defective board, and I still don't know how to make the software work.
While at the makerspace, we found inconsistent behavior when testing servos. Sample programs did not affect the servos. The button on the webpage to put all servos to 90 degrees sometimes worked, and sometimes the servos went limp right after moving.
Both of the other guys there recommended that I buy a new board because the software was too confusing.
BTW the search function of the website can't find any of my old posts, but DDG can: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=synthiam+allanonmage&ia=web
@allanonmage It looks like the power supply is set to 9 volts....keep in mind that voltage would probably damage your servos in the robophilo, but I think from your comments you know that, I just wanted to remind you.
You keep mentioning the wattage on the power supply, but look at the amps, its 3amps max. Back in the day I used to work for Radio Shack, many years ago, and I purchased many Radio Shack power supplies like that one, not that one specifically, but similar to it with my employee discount and the only thing I would say about them is if you connect a meter up to them you'll probably find like I did that their power output fluctuations widely. And back in the day, I found I could never rely on them to power my Basic Stamp micro controller projects. Even to control LED circuits, I could not rely on them. So back in the day I either used a bunch of batteries or eventual I built my own homebrew power supply.
The power supply you have looks like it was meant as a universal laptop power supply replacement maybe with a bunch of different end connectors you can swap out, so it's probably good for that but perhaps not good for robotics.
I'm not sure what you purchased years ago from EZ-Robot if you just purchased a standalone EZ-Bv4 controller or an Experimenters kit, but if you got the DC adapter that came with it, then you might have also got the 6 AA battery pack holder. That 6AA battery pack holder would provide 9 volts to power your EZ-Bv4 but again too much power for your robophilo servos which need around 5/6 volts. If you have a 4 AA battery pack holder you could connect that to the EZ-Bv4 to provide 6volts and power your servos, if you lower that voltage settings as mentioned before.
If you had that power adapter set for 6 volts and the speaker was disconnected, the battery monitor would activate and that’s why the servos won’t move (as jeremie mentioned earlier). Deactivate the battery monitor and try again with that adapter. Since it’s a switching supply at 3 amps, it might work for a few servos. Although those robophilo servos draw a TON of current. They’re real cheap (sorry) servos and not efficient at all. But, with adequate power you’ll be fine
I do recommend hooking up a speaker for notifications like the battery monitor. And... who doesn’t like a robot that speaks
or dances to music. A speaker on the ezb makes it way cooler!
As well as the other excellent advice you have received here, see the section on Inrush Current in this tutorial page: https://synthiam.com/Community/Tutorials/Amps-Volts-Power-Converters-and-Power-Supplies-16246
A single servo can exceed 3amps draw when it first starts moving.
Alan