by Gene Rosson » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:12 pm
since writing the comments about the CS80, I have experimented a bit more. Attach servo to workbench so that the arm extends over the side, the arm has a string on which various weights can be attached. A reliable ampmeter is placed in the battery circuit.
The servo is a bear. It will snatch a six pound weight, from a five inch arm, with violence akin to a ballista. The servo is ,as suspected, voltage sensitive. It operates fairly well with 4.8 volts but it becomes real jerky when heavily loaded. At 6 volts it is not jerky, just sudden. The amperage draw was not excessive but surge current, when heavily loaded, could exceed 5 amps. That is instantaneous current so it is not terribly serious. Based on these experiments, I would suggest that battery wire and switches be of the heavy duty variety. Wouldn't hurt to have a fuse in the line as well. If you get a sheet jam it either going to break the sheet or set fire to the boat. Better to blow the fuse.
During the test procedures I noticed a lot of flexure in the plastic output shaft. I abandoned the CS80 for that reason only. I reckoned that the shaft is going to break at the exact moment when I was trying to pull some sort of tricky maneuver, and therefore cause my boat to T Bone someone elses boat.[V] Everyone knows about Murphy's laws. Right ?