ORIGINAL: Hammbone

????????????? A Power Expander does not work miracles. You can use a Power Expander and still have limited current flow. It's comments like this that make me feel like I have to keep repeating myself. If you have any one part of your system that limits current flow, then you have limited current flow (even with a Power Expander). A Power Expander in and of itself does not improve current flow if you still have components in your system (like "Y"s, small diameter wire, and standard plugs) that are going to limit the current flow.

Think of it like water going through pipes. If you have 4" diameter pipe running 30', but have one small section that is reduced down to 1/2" diameter, you are only going to get as much water as will flow through the 1/2" pipe out the other end. If you had 4" pipe the whole way, you'd get much more water through the pipes. Putting in a section of 6" pipe will not improve your flow if you still have the section of 1/2" pipe inline somewhere.

If he just put in the Power Expander without changing out the other potential current flow bottlenecks in his system, it wouldn't tell us anything. The way he is doing it will tell us something. He should feel a difference in performance with the new set up. His servos should be stronger with the new set up.

When I started using the A123's / Power Expander set up, I noticed a definite improvenment in both the speed and power of my servos, but I can't say for sure that it was due completely to better current flow, it's probably due to the higher voltage (6.6v) of the A123 batteries without a reg. I used to use Li Ion batteries with a 6v reg.

Jim