Yeah, the NiMH AA's don't last long. I bought a box of 12 and an 8 port charger, so I can have one set charging while using the other, but that still didn't give me a lot to work with since the charge time is a lot longer than the use time. LiPO last a lot longer and recharge a little faster, but still.....

Alan

How about something like this. 7.5v 20 amp switching supply...

http://www.circuitspecialists.eu/7-5-volt-enclosed-switch-mode-power-supply-7-5v-20a-150w-psu/

It's a pretty good price, and is a good option for a bench supply.

This looks very good!

It should work perfect for the EZ-B and the servos that ship with the developers kit right?

The only thing is the right now those servos I am using should have 4.8Volts supplied...as though I guess from what I have been reading in reviews they should be able to run on 7.5Volts without blowing up!

Should I just get any type of potentiometer, or is there a post on voltage regulation for power supplies with fixed voltage....it seems like you can adjust 10% but this would not let me lower the output to 4.8Volts...

At the moment I could still go brute force, but of course in the process I would like to get the specified voltage to my servos to make sure they last!

Since I am a newbie to robotics I would totally trust your judgement on this and just go for it...seems to be a pretty good deal!

Thanks for helping me out Steve!

@Mickey666Maus Steve gave you a great option... I am actually thinking of buying one myself...

@Micky.

No problem. Yeah, the supply I linked to will work great with the servos supplied with the Dev kit (I may get one myself too), as they run best at 7.4v (the .1v from 7.5v is nominal and nothing to be concerned about. A fully charged LiPo sits around 8 volts to start with, straight off the charger.)

For the 4.8v servos, an option could be to add a 5v regulator or drop down Buck converter (similar to a regulator) to each one, which would drop the EZ-B's 7.4v supply to 5v. It all depends on your robot setup really. If you did go this route, my recommendation would be to make sure that the regulators can supply at least 3 amps.

In the 'Specific Recommendation For Power Adapter' post where also the use of super caps is discussed someone found this step down voltage regulator....but it only allows 2.5Amps, should I used this one or search for one that supports 3amps?

https://www.pololu.com/product/2852

Also correct me if I am getting this wrong...the voltage regulator would be linked between the power supply and the EZ-B right, not between the EZ-B and the servos? Because you wrote.... 'For the 4.8v servos, an option could be to add a 5v regulator or drop down Buck converter (similar to a regulator) to each one,'

This part confused me a little...

My current test setup has only those 4.8Volts micro servos, but I plan to use the heavy duty servos that shipped with the developers kit very soon!

OK...found it! They cannot really handle enough current ,so I would need one of the regulators for each servo then I guess!

I'll answer the second question first. If you put a regulator between the power supply and the EZ-B, every digital port power (Vcc) pin on the EZ-B will only get the reduced voltage. Drawing too much current from the regulator will probably damage it. Using a regulator this way might suit some projects, but may not for others. Putting the regulator between the digital pins and each servo for example, will only reduce the current and voltage to that servo.

The thing to remember... you can supply a servo 100 amps or more, but the servo will only draw what it needs.

As for the first question, it really depends on the servo in question. You may get away with 2.5 amps per servo (just to cover the inrush current which is when a servo starts to move), but personally, I'd say the higher amp output for a regulator, the better. Better to have too much than not enough.

I hope that clear things up a bit better, but if your still not sure, don't hesitate to ask.