Continuous Servos vs 'Standard' or 'Hobby' Servos
Continuous rotation servo motors are geared motors like a regular servo but the horn can turn 360 degrees in a circle like a continuous DC motor.
Standard servos can move only to a specific angle between 0 and 180.
Continuous rotation servos can only change rotation speed, you cannot move the continuous rotation servo to a particular spot or location. They're really more like continuous DC motors than servos, but they're still called servos because the shape and wiring is so similar
Continuous servos are usually marked continuous. But otherwise they look like their standard/hobby servo cousins. Check which one you've got as they look the same!
One easy way to check is place the horn on the servo and gently/slowly twist it by hand. If it stops, its a standard servo. If it rotates all the way around, its likely a continuous servo
Control of a continuous servo in code is much like a continuous DC motor in that code tells the motor to run from 0 to 100% of full speed. Negative values indicate reversed motion.
If you use two continuous servos on a robot, often one is run the same speed as the other but one is reversed as the mounting is 180 degrees rotated.
Connecting a continuous servo is the same for Crickit for Circuit Playground Express, Crickit Wing for Feather, and Crickit for micro:bit.
You can connect up to 4 servos at the same time.
Your continuous servo will have a 3-pin connector with black or brown, red and white or yellow wires.
Connect the servo to the 3 pins next the number 1. The light colored (white or yellow) wire should be pointing out and is closest to the number '1' marked on the Crickit, the darkest (brown or black) color wire pointing towards the center of Crickit.
Make sure it presses down and looks like all three wires of the servo are attached to Crickit.
Please see the following pages on how to program continuous servos on Crickit in either Microsoft MakeCode or CircuitPython.
Page last edited March 08, 2024
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