Hi there. The arduino itself does not supply enough current through the digital pins to power a motor. The 5 volt and 3.3 volt pins are taken for other functions, so transistors aren't an option. Is there a way I can raise the current? I looked into motor shields but I'm not sure if they will work with my program because it's made to work with the digital pins already.
thanks
A motor shield is the best way to drive a motor. You may need to modify your program or hack the shield to avoid pin conflicts.
You need a motor driver. There are many of them : https://www.pololu.com/
Some have a control chip and control the motor, other just amplify the inputs. What kind of motor driver you need, depends on the motor.
How are you going to power the motors (that is: apply power to the motor shield).
(while I was typing this, MorganS already wrote that a motor driver is needed)
Motors need to be powered by a separate power supply - they should NOT draw their power through the Arduino.
...R
danno629:
The 5 volt and 3.3 volt pins are taken for other functions, so transistors aren't an option.
I don't understand this statement. How does that rule out a transistor? You can hook more than one thing to the 5V or 3.3V pin as long as you mind their maximum current. And you could always take power from whatever power supply is feeding the Arduino without using any of the pins on the board or worrying about their maximum current capabilities.