Servo drawing too much power

ArduRover ArduBoat
1

I built an Arduboat from spare parts I had on my desk and am having some issues. Everything works fine as long as the servo is unplugged. When I plug the servo in, the sik radio loses connection, my FPV camera dims, and the flight controller beeps. I assume the servo is drawing too much power but it is well within spec of the flight controller.

What I’ve done:

  • Checked continuity between the servo pins, looks like there is not a short anywhere.
  • Servo is receiving 5 volts
  • Swapped the servo for a smaller 9 gram (that’s all I had) and it worked for a while. Original servo was buzzing when I plugged it in.
  • Unplugged servo, everything else seems to work fine.

Boat Details:

Volantex V792-2 Brushless RC Boat

Volantex Vector SR48 V797-3 RC Boat Parts Waterproof And Water Cool Brushless ESC 20A

ZIPPY Compact 2200mAh 2S 35C Lipo Pack

Benewake TF02 Single-point Ranging LiDAR Pixhawk Compatible Radar

HXT900 Micro Servo 1.6kg / 0.12sec / 9g

Holybro Kakute F7 Flight Controller

Holybro Micro M8N GPS Module

https://www.amainhobbies.com/spektrum-rc-torrent-110-fpv-camera-spmvcm01/p633065

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2

Generally its not a good idea to power sevos off the 5v the flight controller is running off. You should power the servo from a bec, there might be one in your esc, if there is you should not connect it to the flight controller 5v.

1 Like
3

Hooked it up to the BEC and it seems to work perfect on the bench. I am powering the FC from the BEC so I thought it wouldn’t matter whether it was from a 5v output on the FC or straight from the BEC. Thanks, gotta figure out object avoidance with this new lidar now.

4

It’s not a bad idea to keep the FC and servos on separate power sources. Just my opinion.