so this sounds like a stupid question as I type it, but I really don’t know the answer. Up until now I’ve used a 14.1V lipo battery for my ROV, directly driving the thrusters, with voltage dividers to get 5V to the beagle bone etc. Now I’m looking at the waterproof servos and they say “7.4v 2-Cell LiPo Capability” . Does that I should NOT use them with my 14.1V battery? Because it’s the wrong voltage (I can take care of that) or because they will damage or be damaged?
thx
It means exactly what it says. You will probably damage the servo if you run it on a 3S LiPo as it is designed to run on a maximum of a 2S LiPo.
Regards,
TCIII AVD
but why? Because the voltage would be too high, because I can deal with that, or is there something inherent in Lipo batteries that differs in usage.
Hi David,
Using a voltage above the rated voltage can cause a servo to blow out. If you want to run the servos at 7.4V, you can get a “battery eliminator circuit” (BEC) that will output 7.4V when connected to your lipo batteries. You can also run them off of 5V.
Also, I would strongly recommend using a voltage regulator versus a voltage divider to power your Beaglebone. That might be what you’re using already but I just want to check.
Best,
Rusty
Hi
Yes I did mean regulator not divider, but not a BEC. I’ve usually used a TO-220 but then usually I’m taking the voltage down for the board and have all the servos the same voltage. This will be new for me. Thanks for the new info!
david