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- Servo - Generic (Sub-Micro Size)
Here is a simple, low-cost, high quality servo for all your mechatronic needs. This servo is very similar in size and specifications to the Hitec HS-55. This little guy is able to take in 6 volts and deliver 20.8 oz-in. of maximum torque at 0.10 sec/60°
This small servo comes with a standard 3 pin power and control cable, and all hardware listed in the Includes tab above.
Note: This servo is rated for 180° rotation, but in actuality it only hits ~160°.
- 1x Micro Size Servo
- 1x Single Arm Micro Horn
- 1x Double Arm Micro Horn
- 1x Four Point Micro Horn
- 1x Circle Micro Horn
- 2x 2x8mm Phillips Screw
- Voltage: 4.8-6.0 Volts
- Torque: 16.6/20.8 oz-in. (4.8/6.0V)
- Speed: 0.15/0.10 sec/60° (4.8/6.0V)
- Rotation: ~160°
- Single Top Ball Bearing
- Nylon Gears
- 3-Pole Ferrite Motor
- Dimensions: 31.8 x 11.7 x 29mm
- Wire Length: 160mm
- Weight: 9g
Servo - Generic (Sub-Micro Size) Product Help and Resources
Servo Trigger Hookup Guide
March 26, 2015
How to use the SparkFun Servo Trigger to control a vast array of Servo Motors, without any programming!
micro:bit Educator Lab Pack Experiment Guide
May 8, 2018
A quickstart guide for the micro:bit educator lab pack.
Blynk Board Project Guide
March 25, 2016
A series of Blynk projects you can set up on the Blynk Board without ever re-programming it.
SparkFun Inventor's Kit for Photon Experiment Guide
September 3, 2015
Dive into the world of the Internet of Things with the SparkFun Inventor's Kit for Photon.
Hobby Servo Tutorial
May 26, 2016
Servos are motors that allow you to accurately control the rotation of the output shaft, opening up all kinds of possibilities for robotics and other projects.
SparkFun Inventor's Kit Experiment Guide - v4.0
November 15, 2017
The SparkFun Inventor's Kit (SIK) Experiment Guide contains all of the information needed to build all five projects, encompassing 16 circuits, in the latest version of the kit, v4.0a.
SparkFun Inventor's Kit Experiment Guide - v4.1
August 8, 2019
The SparkFun Inventor's Kit (SIK) Experiment Guide contains all of the information needed to build all five projects, encompassing 16 circuits, in the latest version of the kit, v4.1.2 and v4.1.
Clap On Lamp
November 28, 2017
Modify a simple desk lamp to respond to a double clap (or other sharp noise) using parts from the SparkFun Inventor's Kit v4.0.
micro:bot Kit Experiment Guide
February 20, 2020
Get started with the moto:bit, a carrier board for the micro:bit that allows you to control motors, and create your own robot using this experiment guide for the micro:bot kit.
Basic Servo Control for Beginners
February 25, 2020
An introductory tutorial demonstrating several ways to use and interact with servo motors!
Additional Example Tutorial
This servo is used in our SparkFun Inventor's Kit. For more information on using this tutorial with Arduino, check below:
Core Skill: Robotics
This skill concerns mechanical and robotics knowledge. You may need to know how mechanical parts interact, how motors work, or how to use motor drivers and controllers.
Skill Level: Competent - You may need an understanding of servo motors and how to drive them. Additionally, you may need some fundamental understanding of motor controllers.
See all skill levels
Core Skill: DIY
Whether it's for assembling a kit, hacking an enclosure, or creating your own parts; the DIY skill is all about knowing how to use tools and the techniques associated with them.
Skill Level: Noob - Basic assembly is required. You may need to provide your own basic tools like a screwdriver, hammer or scissors. Power tools or custom parts are not required. Instructions will be included and easy to follow. Sewing may be required, but only with included patterns.
See all skill levels
Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.
Skill Level: Competent - You will be required to reference a datasheet or schematic to know how to use a component. Your knowledge of a datasheet will only require basic features like power requirements, pinouts, or communications type. Also, you may need a power supply that?s greater than 12V or more than 1A worth of current.
See all skill levels
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Customer Reviews
3.7 out of 5
Based on 13 ratings:
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Herky Jerky
I was using this for some simple projects with my kids. It worked the first 3 times, and then was like watching a dying insect sort of jerking around. I think I'll spend a little extra cash on a better one next time.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Great little servo
I build Raspberry Pi pan and tile cameras with two of these servos. They work great, are light weight, and don't cost much.
1 of 2 found this helpful:
Flaky
It has a hard time staying in position, it's shaking out of control rendering it unusable.
It works exactly as advertized
It was easy to hook up and easy to control. At times, there is some chatter but this is common for servos. the rotation only hits about 160 degrees but that was clearly stated.
It's ok
One of them burned out really quickly but the other two ended up being decent enough and the right choice for the pan/tilt bracket they are attached to.
nice, inexpenseve servo for learning
I'm just learning to use servos in projects and this was a nice, inexpensive way to build a little pan-tilt project and not worry about breaking my bank account if I broke the project.
Great little servo
Using this as a pen lift in a plotter and it is working great so far
Great little servo
I needed a small, lightweight servo for a robot project and this has worked out to all my expectations. Very little noise or vibration which is important for the sensors it positions.
Not the best servo for the price
Servo jitters severely around 0 position and makes lots of noise. Also the terminals and wire seem a bit flimsy. I would trust this servo in $5 pan tilt bracket but NOT in a $200 model airplane!
Hi, Sorry about the issues. If you need a more reliable servo for high value projects, I would recommend a higher grade servo such as the HiTec servos. They are much more reliable than the generic servos. But the generic servos are great when you need a low dollar servo for your applications. Thanks for the feedback!
Perfect for prototyping
I got 4-5 of these, and they're good for prototyping. If you want to make high-quality products you may not go here (and there are higher quality options in here).
As usual you'll have to experiment with the pulse width to map the full range of motion, and don't go too high or low or it will keep forcing against the hard limits.
For some reason I've fried one of mine so that when I power it on it just pushes against the limit and does not respond to any valid input signal anymore, but it was probably my fault.
Get a few of them and experiment with them.
I got mine a while ago and hadn't test it until now and it doesn't seem to cover the whole 180 degrees, its more like 160. Is it like this or is mine defective?
Mine is the same, although it doesn't have that sound. It does, however, only go about 160.
Same here. It also makes an horrible sound when I'm trying to position it to 0 degrees. I assume the stoppers are not correctly placed.
I just got one and see the same two issues. It looks to be more like 135 or so and yes if I send a 0 position to it it hums.
Here is what I found out with this servo.
Wiring:
Red: 5V
Brown: ground
Yellow: signal
Timing: Stable values
Right at 0.50mS (about 85 degrees)
Left at 2.0mS (about -85 degrees)
Center at 1.25ms (about 0 degrees)
I just bought 5 and they don't have ball bearings :(
This should be removed from the description.
No datasheet for this one?
I have two of these and am happy with them so far ( although it's been only a couple months since I got them ). I made a yaw angle adjustable servo mount and a base model in sketch-up for 3D printing, I thought I'd share it here for others to download:
Servo Mount
Servo Mount Base
Hi, I never used servomotors before. What control voltage do they need? Can these be used with a microcontroller which has a 3V power supply?
Here's a basic tutorial for working with servos on Arduino. You will need to use a power supply that's appropriate for the servo you decide to use. This one requires 4.8-6V so it wouldn't work on a 3V system.
Can this be used outdoors? Also what is the operating temperature range?
I just tried backdriving one of these and heard a little snap. I opened it up to find that a tooth had broken off of the gear driving the pinion. Turns out, the teeth on the pinion gear weren’t cut all the way through, so this thing couldn’t even turn! QC anyone?
Is there a servo mount for the micro servo? The only ones I saw were for larger ones
Hi neumeka,
if you have access to a 3D printer you could print these out or embed them into your own design:
Servo Mount
Servo Mount Base
is it possible to provide same signal to the white wire of 30 different motors so they can do the same movement? anyone? thanks.
Yes, but you'll probably need a high current drive on that signal wire (aka, driving it directly from an arduino pin won't work).
What are the optimal values for setting the min and max position? I'm referring to the command: myservo.attach(9,MIN,MAX); // use pin 9, set minimum to MIN [us], set maximum to MAX [us].
How much current do these draw at 6v? I need to know what size resistor to use with a 9v supply.
it worked for a small animatronic project http://youtu.be/O0mOK1-kzTg
I forgot to mention, if you do use the sweep arduino example, you have to unplug the motor before trying to upload another program. Otherwise you'll get an error that someone is busy using the com port your arduino is on. I guess driving the motor doesn't leave enough juice to allow the arduino app to upload a fresh sketch? Anyways, if you just unplug your motor, then update will succeed and you can then plug your servo back in to see if the freshly uploaded sketch does what you expected:)
Hi all, so I bought 2 of these alogn with the pan and tilt bracket. Couple points: 1. These will work connected directly to the Arduino, though I suspect it's best to use a motor/servo controller board for more than just a quick kludge to verify things are going to work. 2. SparkFun guys: the mbed example might not be the best example to jsut see the servo's moving. Using the example "sweep" from the Arduino site instead might make good sense: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Sweep. I followed this and was watching the servo's move in less than 5 min. 3. running the servo's with the sweep program for > 1 min or so, so continuous motion, get's them warm and I think had I let them run longer I'd have eventually burnt them out.
You guys think maybe going through a servo controller would do better with the heating issue? It's really hard to know exactly how to work with these with out something more than just operating voltage , I think. I'm not a EEm but but without a data sheet it's really hard to consider putting these into a bot or device if you expect it to be predictable. Am I wrong? Is there a technique I'm not aware of?
Any chance of getting some specs regarding the operating current?
My servo does a really strange thing. I have an AtTiny45 sending out a PWM signal (20 ms, with the high time varying from 1 to 2 msec and then back again). I measured it with my oscilloscoop and the AtTiny works. The high time goes up from 1 msec, to 2, and then back to 1 (in 8 steps, like I programmed, no special reason for those 8 steps, just a test program, I have the AtTiny do a _delay_ms of 500 ms between each step). However when I connect the servo to it, the PWM signal is constantly being pushed back to 2 msec high time. Sometimes it goes back to something like 1,7 msec, sometimes 1,9 (completely random) before it jumps back to 2 msec. I have a more than sufficient power supply, I measured the voltage line also, it's a stable 5V, even when the servo is turning. Don't know what the problem could be..
What is the maximum current of this one? Can I connect this one to the 5V output of a Netduino or should I get a voltage regulator along with this?
What is the maximum current of this one? Can I connect this one to the 5V output of a Netduino or should I get a voltage regulator along with this?
What is the maximum current of this one? Can I connect this one to the 5V output of a Netduino or should I get a voltage regulator along with this?
Here is what I got with Center 1.58ms Left max 780us Right max 2.38ms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OalAjqksYGU&feature=share
This is my first servo purchase and I am just curious how I would figure out what is the resolution(smallest rotational change) that I can expect from this servo? I am familiar with PWM and all that I just want to start thinking of the design of my servo drivers. I imagine that I could empirically figure this out with the IDE debugger and some inputs to control the PW. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Steven_ECE,
Did you ever figure out the resolution of your servo?
Hey guys. Can you let me know what the gearing ratio is for these motors?
I've been trying to get this servo to work with my arduino, but it doesn't move besides a little jerk when I first apply power. Thinking perhaps I broke it, I bought a larger servo and hooked it up, and I'm still having the same problem. It simply doesn't work. I'm using the example programs for the Servo and PMWServo libraries. I'm using a wall wart to provide separate power for the servo. I've tried both 4.5 and 6.0V supplies. I've got ground going to black, power to red, and control pulses to white.
I'm perplexed.
Ever notice that as soon as you post that you are totally unable to figure something out, you find the solution. Then you have to post again, telling everyone that you were wrong. This is one of those times. It helps to make sure the Arduino is talking to the right pin ...
help, i cannot operate this servo.
every time i send a pulse to it, it simply jolts in one direction. no matter what that pulse is! using ardurino and a variety of pulses. even:
digitalWrite(cammotpin,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(90000);
digitalWrite(cammotpin,LOW);
does the same thing, or
digitalWrite(cammotpin,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(0020);
digitalWrite(cammotpin,LOW);
i have this in a loop and it only jolts 1ce, then not even resetting makes it work again, only re-uploading the code or removing and re-applying power.
HELP!
its kind of late but have you tried using the servo library from arduino? this makes it easier to work with servos
Does anyone know what's the peak-to-peak voltage for the control signal? Thanks in advance :)
about how much can this thing move/lift
That depends on a lot of factors. Check the torque rating above and then decide your lever arm, etc.
when is it gonna be back in stock?i need it to checkout!!!
We had an issue with our shipment that we're working out. It got caught up in customs and we don't have an ETA as of right now.
when will this be back in stock? i need then :-D
I am quite pleased with this servo. I use it to pan a sharp infrared sensor back and forth. It operates at 5 volts and works fine with my arduino. It is quite fast and docent make much noise. Overall it is a nice servo for what I need.
Hi I think the features for output torque should be 1.4kg-cm (not 1.4kg/cm) or have I missed something here?
No. Torque has a base unit of Newton meters, or in this case, kilogram centimeters. In either case torque is represented as force x distance. The way to think of it is that this servo is specified to apply a force of 1.4 kg at a distance of 1 cm. You can scale this too. If you need say, twice the force out of this servo, you should connect your driven component at 1/2 the distance from the center of the drive shaft. Conversely, if you drive something from 2 centimeters out from the shaft, you will only get 0.7 kg of force.
One of my servos just quit working. I was using a joystick to control two and using the arduino servo library and sample sketch with no load applied. :)
Well then you should probably contact techsupport@sparkfun.com.
I've got it mostly working now. I'm having trouble finding stable values though. 0.5ms and 1.25ms work, but none of the others I've tried do, including 2.0ms. Does anyone know what values work with this servo?
I can't get this servo to work! I have: Red = 5V, brown = GND, Yellow = signal. I'm sending a 50Hz PWM signal with a 1.25ms hi time. However, every time I send the servo a signal, it just turns clockwise instead of moving to a fixed position. Any suggestions?
The servo turns only to about 170 degrees. It reaches 90 in one direction,then only 80 in the opposite way.
Did anyone else have this issue?
Is there a way to achieve a full 180 rotation?
I get this problem as well, if I increase the range above 0.0008 it just spins continuously (which is actually quite useful if I ever want to use it as a simple motor)... but not if I want to use it as a servo! Any ideas Sparkfun people?
Observation corroborated!
I, too, have a servo that has a range of approximately 170 degrees! For me, this isn't a big deal, I'm just dialing down the range when programming so that I don't overturn/overheat the thing.
This servo locked in less than 12 hours.
Not impressed with this servo...one of the nylon gears stripped after less than 5 minutes of running time. The applied torque was much less that 1.4kg/cm, it was just flicking an ordinary lightswitch on and off.
I've modified one of these to be a continuous rotation servo - it's trickier than with the bigger servos. The potentiometer itself has range limits on it, and the pot shaft serves as the axis for the gears that take it to the output. So you have to bust up the pot and remove most everything but the shaft itself. And everything is pretty darn small...
Haven't tested it in my dif drive bot design yet, but it looks like it will work.
Wrote a quick tutorial on modifying these for continuous rotation on my blog.
http://bradsprojects.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/hacking-tiny-servos/
Your instructions are a bit vague. I found this tutorial that I'm hoping to use to finish up the fixed resistor part of the job.
http://todbot.com/blog/2009/04/11/tiny-servos-as-continuous-rotation-gearmotors
eclipse: ok, stupid question maybe; but howmany degrees goes this servo ? 360 (Not Continuous offcourse) or just 180 ?
Same question as eclipse. Does anyone know how many degrees of rotation this servo has? I'm hoping its at least 180...
Ok, I emailed tech support about the range of rotation on this servo and got a VERY quick reply back. The email I got back said that they where seeing a 90 degree range of rotation. That will work for one servo on my project, just hoping that the big servo will have a bigger range...
It's working fine for 180 degrees.
mine only about 135
is there any tutorial available ??
if someone will post whatever data they can find on the body of the servo, im sure it wont be too long before someone else finds a datasheet to share for it
is there any references that are useful to get these things working? tutorial or datasheet?
ok, stupid question maybe; but howmany degrees goes this servo ? 360 (Not Continuous offcourse) or just 180 ?
It is supposed to go 180, but it really only goes about 160
Same question as I2C Master, have these been modified to do full rotation? And if not (which is what I'm hoping), what is the angle range between 0.9ms and 2.1ms (or whatever the timings actually are)?
Same question, except I want these to be full rotation, and I want an ANSWER!!!!
When e-mail comes to town, ya-know-ya-know it's like a rain-storm. In your brow-ser.
Homestar Runner FTW! Ask a Ninja's good, too.
I've learned to ask SparkFun for answers now, and I'm glad I did! Also, I JUST realized (what is UP with me always realizing too late?) that sbemail could refer to things other than the Strong Bad Email Webtoons. Does it refer to that?
Sparkfun are these full-rotation.
I bought 2 of these, and neither works. Total waste of 20 bucks :(
Hi Waffle,
I'm sorry to hear about that. We rarely hear of any problems with these servos, and we'd be happy to help troubleshoot why yours aren't working, or get you replacements.
Drop us an email with as much information as you can.
techsupport at sparkfun dot com
It appears that they do both infact work. It turns out my power supply was not strong enough, and the microcontroller kept resetting! Ive beefed up the PS and it works now. sorry for the confusion!
PS: is it normal for them to get warm after a few minutes of scanning back and forth without load?
Thanks for the help, and again, sorry, it was my mistake.
))) i make the same mistake,
servo become warm if you try to overturn it (turn above dead position) try dec rotation range and i think the problem will be solved))
How do I put the servo together? What should be connected to what parts?
The screws are for: 1 for mounting 1 for attaching the attachments to the actual servo 1 I have no Idea. In addition, the black pin goes to GND, red to PWR, and white for a signal.