I have a question that an afternoon of googling has not answered. I have also searched this section and don't seem to find the right answer.
I have an arduino UNO, and an arduino motor shield r3.
I would like to run two stepper motors. And I understand that the shield I have can run two dc motors, or one stepper motor.
So my question is... Can I get one more motor shield and stack it on top of the first to run the second stepper motor? Or do I need to get a different shield? I am hoping that the answer is yes to stacking the two arduino ones since a friend said they have one spare.
Thanks for your reply. I have seen the other shields and may have to go that route, or just test it for myself.
It's strange that there's no quick answer to this; it seems an obvious thing to try.
One moment I think, in theory it should be fine, because I have seen other shields stacked on an arduino (but each shield is a different function)
And then I think, hm, maybe the arduino won't like it....
I think I am too new to this to be able to know for sure. Any more advice or experience in stacking greatly appreciated!
(modified to add.. There is a post about running two steppers at the same, it seems using two shields, not the arduino ones but similar... Perhaps that is my answer? And that it is basically a yes?)
Can I get one more motor shield and stack it on top of the first to run the second stepper motor?
Doesn't look like it. The second shield will be using the same pins as the first, so anything you put on those pins will affect both - i.e. there will be no independent control of them possible.
One potential way to use two shields would be to solder jumper wires to new pins for the PWM and DIR control pins, then clipping off the original pins (so they don't contact the previous board's controls). Of course, this would void any warrantee, plus the boards could only be stacked in a certain order. You might also be limited to maybe 2 or 3 boards, too (if you need four pins per board, you'll run out of pins quickly).
"Doesn't look like it. The second shield will be using the same pins as the first, so anything you put on those pins will affect both - i.e. there will be no independent control of them possible."
You are wrong!
there is a shield replica produced by velleman which has the possibility of changing the input pins via Jumpers on it's board.
Here's the link to it:
Smagel:
You are wrong!
there is a shield replica produced by velleman which has the possibility of changing the input pins via Jumpers on it's board.
But then that's not an "Arduino Motor Shield" is it?
You are wrong!
But you're right about the other board.
BTW, you can find L298N boards on ebay for about $3. It's probably easier to use a bunch of these $3 boards than using multiple shields.
The L298 is a really bad chip for driving stepper motors. I used to use them myself but everything got really hot. I switched to some chips suggested by MarkT and now all is well.
Then there is another solution for the problem if you only want to use the original shield.
Use a breadboard or something similar and connect everything like it would've been stacked expect the control pins. Now you take these and plug them into the designated pins on the motor shield but take other pins for the arduino.
E.g.: Pins 2 and 3 for the first shield
Pins 4 and 5 for the second shield
and so on
Claudia:
I have an arduino UNO, and an arduino motor shield r3.
I would like to run two stepper motors. And I understand that the shield I have can run two dc motors, or one stepper motor.
Stop there - steppers are driven by stepper drivers unless you have old high-impedance (slow)
bipolar motors for some reason (unlikely these days), which can be (but normally aren't) driven
from a dual H-bridge shield.
What are you wanting to actually do with the motors? What speed do you want? Are steppers right
for your project in the first place?
These days the plentiful and cheap steppers are all low impedance (high performance) bipolars
and are current driven, not voltage driven.
