Control and power servo from specific GPIO?

[gregoff]

Hi all,

I'm using a raspberry pi b+ and a motor board shield on top. This means that I only have the four bottom pins available (the ones closest to the usb-port.

My question is, can I control AND power a small servo using these pins? I've read that ServoBlaster can use just about any pin for PWM, but I need to power it from specific pins as well.

In this case, I cannot add an external power source just for the servo.

Thanks in advance!

[joan]

You can send the servo control signal from any gpio.

You can not power the servo from any gpio. If you try all you might do is damage a gpio or the Pi. You certainly won't move the servo.

If it's a small (micro) servo you may be able to power it from one of the two 5V pins on the expansion header.

[gregoff]

You can send the servo control signal from any gpio.

You can not power the servo from any gpio. If you try all you might do is damage a gpio or the Pi. You certainly won't move the servo.

If it's a small (micro) servo you may be able to power it from one of the two 5V pins on the expansion header.

So basically I'm out of options since the 5V pins are used by the motor shield. Seems like I'll have to use a second power supply.