Arduino Motor Shield...

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Hello everyone!

I'm starting out with Arduino and have a question regarding the Motor Shield (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoMotorShieldR3).

I intend to build a little car that can avoid obstacles as my first project.

I'm a bit hesitant at how to power both the Motor Shield and the Uno via batteries.

What I had planned to do was this:

1) Cut the VIN pin on the Motor Shield *
2) Mount the Motor Shield to the Uno
3) Connect batteries (to power the motors) to the Motor Shield +/- screw terminals
4) Connect a 9v battery via the DC Jack on the Arduino Uno board which will be the source of power for the Uno and Motor Shield logic...

Is this the correct thing to do?

* =

To avoid possible damage to the Arduino board on which the shield is mounted, we reccomend using an external power supply that provides a voltage between 7 and 12V. If your motor require more than 9V we recommend that you separate the power lines of the shield and the Arduino board on which the shield is mounted. This is possible by cutting the "Vin Connect" jumper placed on the back side of the shield. The absolute limit for the Vin at the screw terminals is 18V.

Thanks for any and all replies!

:slight_smile:

2

I think so yes, but you'll probably want to re-think the 9v battery (if you mean a pp3) since they don't last very long.

You could use a Pololu 2120 or similar to cut the motor supply volts.

3

Btw, be sure to read the datasheet for that shield's L298 chip, which is a voltage "sponge". You'll need to put 3-4 more volts in than you're motors need: check the datasheet for details.

4

Thanks JimboZA - I shall look into it a bit further!