Gerald
USA
Asked
— Edited
Resolved by Steve G!
I got a serious problem recently.
Few days ago, I was testing the six. But after about 10 minutes, one of the servos didn't work, it's broken. Then I replaced it with another servo. After about 5 minutes, one of the servos didn't work either (not the new one). This time I saw there were some gas coming out. I guess it was burned out. So I stop working on it.
Until today, my friend tested it again, the same thing happened. Therefore, I got three servos broken in a short time, I don't know why.
Forget to mention that I also have roli and jd, all of servos work fine but six.
Could anyone tell me what reason may cause that tragedy?
Thanks
@Gerald.
To help you narrow down the problem and find a possible cause to why your servos are not working, let's go through a check list. You will need to start by answering the questions below...
1) With the exception of the first servo which you say was working? We're you sure the second and third servos were connected correctly?
2) Do you have any additional weight added to Six, which could cause the servos to strain?
3) You say "servos stopped working", did you see smoke coming from all three now damaged servos?
4) After the first servo stopped working after 10 minutes, did the second servo work at all (did it also move for a few minutes before you saw the smoke)?
5) Just to confirm, Were the three servos connected to the same port number when each one got damaged, or different ports?
6) What are you using to power the servos on Six during you Six "testing"?
7) Are the servos making any excessive buzzing noises when in use (servos will make a buzzing noise, but should be very loud)? If they buzz loudly, then the servos are straining near or past their limits.
8) When you calibrated the servos during setup, did you make sure NOT to overly tighten the screws (as mentioned in the calibration tutorial?
When you answer the questions above with enough relevent details, we can narrow down any possible causes to why you're having this trouble.
Smoke coming from a servo is bad news.... Luckily they are pretty cheap... Buy a few new ones and make sure all the joints on your ez robots can be moved freely by hand when the power is off... Make sure no cables are too tight and nothing is getting in the way of the servo moving freely....
Same here, installed ARC 2005-03-17 and one servo burnt up. Had not burnt out a servo in a long time.
I thought maybe a coincidence with version upgrade, but release notes mentioned a servospeed fix.
DJ, do think there could be a coralation ?
I don't beleive there is a connection between the software and hardware. If there was, with the hundreds of community members and thousands of EZ-Robot users, I'm sure there would have been many more reports of burnt out servos posted on the forum. Personally I use my HD, standard, micro, continuous rotation, rotational motor and lever servos on a daily basis, and have not come across any issues with my servos burning out either before of after the 2005-03-17 release.
Truth be told, I don't quite know what the servospeed() fix resolved as I didn't notice any issues. I would just say to anyone reading this who are new here that servos are precision instruments, and all servos, not just the EZ-Robot ones, all have their torque limits, so care and proper usage should be observed. Just my observation.
Hey guys please note in one of the recent software changes the value: 0 was added to the servo based controls.
The 0 value will release the servo. The servo port or servo may look non-functional but they will work again if you use a value of 1-180 instead.
What I understand Jeremie to be saying is that in a script you need to place this statment in to release a servo atached to any port:
Wouldn't this do the same thing?
Why the redundancy? Was the last code removed?
@Dave.
From what I understand of it, the Release(D#) releases the servo but needs the "reset servo speed" to make them function again. But the Servo(D#,0) releases the servo, but can then be moved again by setting a new servo position without having to reset the servo speeds (I think that's right anyway). I was having a play about with it just now but encountered a small issue with the Auto Position control which I just made a thread about.
:)