Interfacing servos and DC motors with adruino

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

hey guyz..
am new to adruino as i have been a picaxe user before..

so i know nothing about adruino except the outputs and inputs shown on the main board..

so i want to know how to connect hobby servos and dc geared motors to adruino uno without using any kind of shield ?..

thanks in advance

2

Any servo can be commanded by the Arduino, with no shield required. Connect the control wire to a digital pin, and the ground wire to the ground pin. Connect the + wire to a battery, and connect the ground to the battery, too.

Only the tiniest (and I do mean teeny-tiny) motors can be directly connected to the Arduino. For anything that actually accomplishes anything, you need a motor driver circuit. You can build your own, if you know how, or you can use a shield that someone that DOES know how has built, tested, and validated.

3

well a sheild is not compulsary to run a dc motor use a h bridge ic or build one yourself they are pretty easy to use (if everything is connected in the right manner) and make sure you have seperate power supply
coming to servos they are even easier to use just the connect the +ve and -ve to the battery and the signal wire to the arduino
*corrected on richard's advice :exclamation

4

coming to servos they are even easier to use just the connect the +ve and -ve and the signal wire to the arduino

No!
ALWAYS use a separate power supply for servos.

The only bit newbie got right there was to make sure you connect the grounds together, and to connect the signal wire to an output.

5

hmm yeah true but what i really mean +ve and -ve to the battery but i guess i just omitted it in typing :stuck_out_tongue:

6

oh i really didnt think it that way but anyways i corrected it ! :-[

7

thanks guyzz..

see i connected the control wire(generally white) to the digital input pin and the red wire i.e Vcc to the Vcc pin on adruino and the black wire(ground) to the ground pin on board..

will it work ?..

8

to the digital input pin

I'd make that an output.

red wire i.e Vcc to the Vcc pin on adruino

No, make that an external power supply.
See reply #3.

9

so i want to know how to connect hobby servos and dc geared motors to adruino uno without using any kind of shield ?..

For servos, you use the servo library to get the required PPM signal, and use an external power supply for the servo. For motors, you can use a PWM signal going to a motor driver (transistor, h-bridge, etc) which will control the external power supply to the motor. Note that >EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY< is generally critical for success with motors and servos.