Here's a tutorial we made on how to make a simple robotic arm made with 3 of these servo motors. Enjoy!

For a wiring guide and basic code for connecting the servo motor to Arduino Uno and other controllers, check out this link

Hi, hope you'll find this interesting : http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Flying-Manatee/ It's using sparkfun micro size servo and Pir.

I bought two of these motors and am having trouble getting either to work with the Servo...Sweep sketch. One of them rotates smoothly in one direction but then is jumpy as it rotates in the other direction. The other likes to move back and forth around a specific angle and then jump around a bit before returning to the back and forth motion.

Has anyone had any similar problems? Any advice? Thanks.

The best thing to do with this servos is use an external power supply instead of the arduino 5v. I had a problem with the servo rotating out of the control, I was using the arduino to supply power to the servo. Then a decided to use 4 AA batteries and voila, the servos now works smoothly.

Can we please have a data sheet?

Anybody know what the timing is for these servos. I bought two and they both jam on the end stop when hooked up to a standard R/C servo tester. My fancier tester just has a fit and crashes - maybe the very heavy current requirement noted. In any case I can't get the servo to rotate to any position but the end stop.

Any idea on when you will get more in stock?????

For those of you having problems with these running hot and drawing excess current, it seems to be because you are trying to drive them beyond the mechanical end stops.
If you are driving these servos using the Arduino Servo library (or your own microcontroller code), then the high value of 180 (Arduino), which creates a 2.4ms pulse width, may be too high and tries to drive the servo past its mechanical end stop. This leads to a high current being drawn (1A+) and the servo gets hot.
If you reduce the Arduino Sketch value from 180 down to 170 (or drop your pulse width down to 2.3ms max) then you should be ok.
In normal operation (no load), these servos only need about 50mA when moving and virtually nothing when stationary.
It seems that the setting of the mechanical end stop varies somewhat.

how much can this thing move/lift?

Your advertised specification �Output torque: 3.2kg/cm (19.6oz/in) (6V)� is incorrect. 3.2kg/cm converts to 44.4oz/in.

In any case 44.4oz/in of torque and (60 degrees/1.8s) or about 60 rpm works out to about 2 watts. At 6V the current should be 333 mA. Allowing for 80% efficiency, 2.4 watts at 6V would require 400 mA.

The requirement of this servo seems to be considerably more than 400 mA. The torque seems to be fairly high, maybe more than the 44.4oz/in.

Member79076 indicated that of his two servos, one worked and one drew too much power. Maybe there IS something amiss with these servos. In any case they should all work the same. My two servos seemed to require much more power than the listed requirement and one died after applying enough power to make it function.

The analysis continues.

Does anyone have a CAD file for this servo, that would definitely help with my use of the servo.

What is the pitch and pressure angle of the metal gear? Thanks!

What is the pitch and pressure angle of the metal gear? Thanks.

Is this the servo for the mechanical claw you sell?

Solid little servos. I can get a range of 9-169 degrees off an Arduino Uno power supply - perfectly stable. The orientation seems off (CCW) but I am getting more to see if this is an odd one out.

Got these running off a leapmotion: https://github.com/DecodedCo/leap-arduino

Can this be used outdoors? Also what is the operating temperature range?

June?

which wire is power ground and data???

which wire is power ground and data???

I am having the same issue everyone is reporting about it not working with the Arduino Servo Sweep Sketch. I have done about everything and cannot get these servos to work.

Unless I am missing something. Anyone have good suggestions for another all metal Micro Servo?

Edit: Turns out I might be looking at #27199 post. I think I will try that tonight

I have recently bought one of these motors and had some issues using it. Currently i am working with the EiBotBoard but based on the fundamentals all projects should be adaptable to it's characteristics.

Its a funny motor, great but real funny.

As with any servo, the default position is at zero (used with hesitation). with a swing of 90 degrees to the left or right.

Now this is the important part, as we all already know you cant get an actual 180 degree of movement from this puppy so you will have to settle for the 162 degrees it can produce.

its only capable of a 81 degree swing clockwise or counterclockwise from the default 0 degree position.

If you try to get more than that it will start acting up, as many persons here have described, i.e. the shaft just keep swing from left to right like a mad cat, reason is that the controller inside doesn't know know the limitations of the motor so when you give a degree turn it cant achieve it goes mad trying to find it (it never will).

If that happens, just issue a command telling the motor to go to a known position (-81 to +81) and it will calm down and regain its sanity.

In terms of using this motor with the EiBotBoard

My hats off to its creator, a great job but sparkfun needs to examine the documentation that comes with the product as most of it is incorrect (by far), especially the servo (S2) command.

the S2 command uses a resolution of 1/12,000,000 of a second to a single unit, works out to be 83.something uS.

This is fine, but the documentation states that the max value for duration is 32,000 which equals to 3 mS.

Simple math tells you this is incorrect as 83uS * 32,000 = 2.66 mS.

So here is how it works...tested and proven....

to have a servo go to the default (0 and in some cases 90 (for the people who prefer that)) you issue the SC command with a duration value of 15000.

each degree is a factor of 111, so if zero is the default position the 6000 = -81 degrees and 24000 = +81 degrees.

My calculations have proven to be spot on (for my application) but i do not know what your project is like so it may vary.

Let me know now it works.

I hooked up one of these with the power/ground pins reversed and, sadly, it only took a few seconds for all the magic smoke to escape. An autopsy has determined that an orange surface mount component on the top of the circuit board (right underneath the round isolating wafer) pretty much burned away completely. The markings are gone, can anyone tell me what that component was? maybe I'll try to repair it. Thanks.

I'm new to electronics and i wonder if you can control this servo motor with a toggle switch. I want to control it with a toggle switch because i am working on a control panel for a go-kart, the panel will be made of some toggle switches with fancy "misile" covers, the switches will be used to toggle various things in order for it to start, but what i want to use the servo motor for is to pull a lever in the motor (Specifically the choke and gas on/off levers) so as said, can you control the motor with a toggle switch. Example: when the toggle switch is OFF, the motor will be at a neutral position where it does not pull the lever, when the toggle switch is ON, the motor will be at a position pulling the lever to activate the respective functions.

I hope this was not too complicated to read, i found it hard to descripe this without some gramatical blurrrrr :D

I bought 3 of this, and Seems like it requires a lot of power, it would be nice to have a tutorial on how to connect them to (say, arduino)

when I connect mine to arduino the arduino almost powers out , then works again ... and so on ... if anyone has a good tutorial that would be nice as well :)

I guess I'd need capacitors but I wouldn't know how to do it :(

To anyone having problems with these "jumping around" or "jittering", I have found that they work best with their own (isolated) power supply. As in NOT using any power from an Arduino or other microcontroller board. Also when doing this, make sure they are connected to the same common/ground.

i just bought couple of these servo and not happy at all. it doesn't turn much. wouldn't recommend for the arm robot.

I have several of these motors. At first I thought there was a problem as my initial experience was the same as several other contributors - eratic behaviour, jaming on the end stops, constant motion/oscilation etc.

However, the problems were only apparent when driven directly from the Arduino UNO board - even with an independent power supply. On the scope the pulses intermittently have the trailing corner cut off, resulting in an inprecise pulse width.

If you drive the servo from a Servo Controller or by powering the motor directly, then it works perfectly.

Will this servo fit the Pan/Tilt bracket ROB-10335 as well ? (assuming I have two servos).

does anyone know the control pw signals that controls this servo (min,max, and default)? i am using the arduino uno to control it and i figured out that i have to change the default values in the servo.h libraries to make it work, but i can't tell the numbers i should use.

I recieved mine with 2 of the internal gear in the wrong place (bent the protection bar in the inside. and jittering around alot and would never do the full 180 degrees.)

Swapped the gears around and it worked perfectly. Some quality control issues with the maker i think.

Does anyone know how many pulses it has. Generally, on the Arduino sets it to 544u at 0degrees and 2400u at 180 degrees. Since mine does not move a full 180degrees, does anyone have suggestions on how to solve this problem? Thanks.

Sure be nice if the datasheet or Web site included the information on which wire was which. Usually a datasheet includes information on the pin out...

I bought two of these motors and am having trouble getting either to work with the Servo... Sweep sketch. Any suggestions? Has anyone had similar problems:

After uploading Sweep, the first servo rotates smoothly in one direction but then is jumpy as it rotates in the other direction. The second servo likes to move back and forth around a specific angle and then jumps around a bit before returning to the back and forth motion...

I bought two of these motors and am having trouble getting either to work with the Servo...Sweep sketch. One of them rotates smoothly in one direction but then is jumpy as it rotates in the other direction. The other likes to move back and forth around a specific angle and then jump around a bit before returning to the back and forth motion.

Has anyone had any similar problems? Any advice? Thanks.

bought this servo and it keeps bugging. bought 4 and all are bugging. The red light on the arduino flashes when the bug happends. Tried it with some different kind of servos and then its not bugging at all. Got the arduino duemilanove 168.
The code I used is the example code sweep.

The one I just received is not operational. After running it with the sweep program the internals can be heard turning. Output shaft is jammed solid, can't even turn it with a pair of pliers. Arms in package have misaligned holes. I believe most of these are poorly assembled causing the internal parts to bind. This would explain most of the problems below from high current draw to running excessively hot. For $11 USD I didn't expect much but I did expect it to operate. :( Not worth the shipping cost to return it.

This thing is more power hungry than Alexander the Great. Forget running it with an Arduino & 9V: it hardly budges. After several hours of tinkering, I ended up powering the servo with 4 AA's and the Arduino with a 9V. If the power isn't sufficient (too much movement/low batteries), the Arduino will reset. You can also power the servo with a battery and the Arduino with a PC, but your mileage may vary.
For all those having issues with controller boards resetting, use a separate (and higher voltage) power supply for the servo and you should be fine. Not sure how long those batteries will last, though.

Fragile mine was damaged in transit

it's weight??

There's definitely something weird going on with these servos... They run VERY hot! ..Not a good thing for a servo.

ok i know it says voltage is 4.8-6 but do you think i can run this on one of your new lipos batterys thats a 7.4volt? just a idea it would be easier than buying new batterys ever time a battery pack runs dry

I think SFE should also caryy something like "SR811 Robot Servo"
http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/376846891-SR811-Robot-Servo-wholesalers.html

What is required to drive this off an Arduino?

What type of head does this have?

Bought two of these. Hooked up to the Uno's PWM output, they seem to be calibrated for 0-180 PWM output on the arduino which is nice since it is a 180 degree motor. The problem I have with one of them is it only moves about 160 degrees and when 0 is sent to the PWM output, it looks like it is binding inside and draws a lot of current. Could some of these be manufactured with the pots off a few tens of degrees? This would be acceptable if the motor did not have physical rotational constraints at 0-180.

Definitely something wrong with one of the units I bought. Wouldn't run off NetDuino or HandyBoard. Attached to 5v bench supply with ammeter to see what it was trying to draw and it hit about 10A before I turned it off. Nice smell of hot electronics. Probably not going to get too much out of this unit after this, but it was definitely faulty to start with. Its mate seems to work OK, but you might want to go with a brand name servo judging from some of the other experiences on this topic. I couldn't find any reference to this unit or model # on the web so no datasheet.

The servo requires A LOT of power. My 500ma 5V supply drops down to 3V when powering the servo. When supplied with a 1A 9V supply, it works normally but the voltage drops as low as 7.9V. The connection in the connector is "servo standard" There is no way that this servo can be powered from any USB port and that is not really a problem for me. I really like the torque offered by this little device. I have not been able to measure the peak current yet but I expect that it is more than 1A. You may want to post this information.
One of the servos no longer works at all. Its failure might have been caused by the wild cycling caused by the drop in voltage when using a supply that was insufficient.

What's a typical current draw for these under load?

Bought a couple of these recently but only one seems to work. The other shows a low resistance between the power connections (brown/red) and this overloads my controller board. Any suggestions as to how to fix, or should I return it as DOA?

Do these have metal gears?

is this continuous rotation?