Servo Keeps Trying to Turn

Question

I currently have a servo wired to my Arduino and have imported the Servo.h. Here is my sketch:

#include <Servo.h>

Servo s1;
Servo s2;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);

  s1.attach(8);
  s2.attach(9);
}
int pos = 0;
void loop()
{
  pos = 0;
  if(s1.read() != pos)
    s1.write(pos);
  if(s2.read() != pos)
    s2.write(pos);

  delay(1000);
}

The problem is that even when my servos are at the position 0 it still tries to turn and I hear it trying. What do I have to do to tell it to stop turning once it is already at the desired position?

So this is my second bit of code:

s1.write(0);
  delay(5000);
  s1.write(100);
  delay(5000);
  s1.write(180);
  delay(5000);

When I write them to 100/180 (or any number) they are silent after the turn, but when I write them to 0 I hear them keep trying to turn...

Answer 1

The reason they keep trying to turn is mechanical. The physical stop in the gears is hit before the encoder/potentiometer reaches its end point.

You can make the servo stop fidgeting by completely relaxing it if you want. just use

s1.detach();
s2.detach();

and your arduino will stop sending any signal.

Bear in mind that "reading" the value of a servo in arduino gives you the servo's current set point, not its current location. Your code in unfortunately unaware of a servo's actual location. With that in mind, setting your servo to go to 0, waiting for it to get there with a delay, and then detaching it will have the desired effect, but since it will not maintain position and you will need to reattach it to function again, using 1 or 2 as your far left endpoint is likely the better option.

Answer 2

A common reason is could be because your servo cannot operate at a PWM signal of 0ms. For conservative limits, you should stay between 100ms and 2800ms even for very high quality servos. With lower quality servos that do not specify maximum and minimum values, conservative limits are 700ms to 2400ms.