Hi, im new to the arduino scene, and i am trying to source parts for a project i am working on.
i have a ride on car for my son, the car is 26 years old and the electronics got destroyed 20+ years ago. so i am restoring it with 2 12v motors and i thought i could have a arduino to control them. so the input from the gaspedal and a gear lever would go to the arduino and switch the motors on or change the polarity " the gear lever only changes the polarity of the motors while its held down". and i resently found out that the motor driver shield i have for the arduino maxes out at 1A. now i am at a loss and dont know what i should do. all tips apreciated.
There are lots of motor drivers with all sorts of maximum currents. E.g. Pololu have a good range. Pololu - Brushed DC Motor Drivers
If you say how much current you actually need you could probably get a more specific answer.
Steve
I’m doing a similar project with an old disability scooter - looking at a motor control ( H bridge) and maybe building something for a small motor is s good starting point before you go for anything bigger to understand the electrics and coding .
I going for a pot connected to an accelerator pedal and forward/backwards switch and will build my own H bridge controller
As said for yours it would be useful to characterise your motor and get some figures for current , esp stall current to specify your controller
- figure out the current requirements for your motors.
- select a motor controller board that can handle this current (look at the stall current, not free running current! Your motors will be loaded significantly so the continuous current will be quite a bit more than free running).
- make it work with the Arduino - which indeed is a good option to control a thing like this.
Don't get an Uno; get a Nano instead, as that you can solder wires to properly. Or even better, solder it all on a piece of perfboard or stripboard. That way you won't have to plug back in all the wires after every bump in the road.