Pocket Sized R/C Servo Tester

This R/C servo tester features digital accuracy and is easy to build and use since its signal emulator makes it a breeze to test and setup the servos.

The setup requires plugging in a 4-cell battery and the servo while any servo position desired can be set by the variable potentiometer. the position is within the 1.0mS to 2.0mS range of a modern R/C system. The precise center of the servo can be located with the press of a button. The servo will run back and forth or cycle at the chosen speed by flicking a switch.

From the design of the board, the capacitor C3 should be close to the PIC and for best accuracy, capacitor C1 should have 2% tolerance. An LDO voltage regulator will need to be added when the servo voltage becomes higher than 5V. The female servo cables or simple 3-pin headers handle the connections to battery pack and servo.

An R/C timing circuit is controlled by the pot position. in place of an A/D converter to measure the position of the pot, R1, C1, and some clever PIC software are used. This is affected by battery voltage.

Rest of the project