DFRduino Arduino Motor Drive Shield - help needed

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Good Evening Everybody,

I'm new to the forums and have recently started venturing into the world of Arduino, must say i'm very impressed thus far! I've had a little experiment with most of the tutorials and am getting on well.

My question is has anybody got any experience of the DFRduino Arduino Motor Drive Shield? (edit: it appears i'm not allowed to post links yet, but if you do a google search you'll find it at droboticsonline dot com)

The manual doesn't really provide enough information for me as a beginner to Arduino. My queries are:

  1. I notice there appears to be power in - gnd and vin holes on the PCB, I presume for mounting your own connector. I'm guessing this is to provide the external power needed to run the motors?

  2. Does this board also provide power to the Arduino board or will I need to power that seperately?

Those should do for starters but any advice at this stage is greatfully received!

Thanks guys!