Connect the Red Wire to the Arduino board

1. Insert the red wire into the Vin pin on the Arduino board.

STEM Connections

Connecting the red wire to the Vin pin connects the Servo to the positive terminal of the power source. Vin stands for Voltage Input and matches the voltage supplied to the Arduino board.

Vin has a wire stuck in it

1. Use 5V instead (Note: we have seen some cases where 5V does not control the Servo properly like Vin does)
2. Or, replace the Arduino board
3. Or, teacher use a box cutter or pliers to get it out

1. Generally, it’s not good practice to power Servos through the Arduino , but we are only powering 1 relatively small Servo. 5V should also technically work, but we found that not every board is consistently giving the servo the amount of power it needs to function properly. This is why we chose to use Vin in our activities. Vin, voltage input, is also 5 volts because the USB is delivering 5 volts from the computer. Vin has a higher current limit and appears to be consistent in delivering enough power to the Servos.
2. It is a good idea to have students take notes on where the wires connect. At this point, we recommend that they write down “Red – Vin” in case the wire comes out later and they need to refer to it.
3. If you’re using the notebook, turn to page 6 and have them write “Vin” next to “Red Wire”.