Having purchased this board and downloaded the library I have spent a lot of time trying to find instructions /. tutorial on how to muse it. I keep going round in circles without finding out anything at all . Can someone please put me out of my misery ?
Sure.
It's name is "Adafruit Motor Shield".
This is on the Arduino Playground, Arduino Playground - AdafruitMotorShield
This is the explanation for it, Motor Shield - Arduino motor/stepper/servo control (don't forget the select the options from the menu on the left).
Did you know that clones are very cheap on Ebay, arduino motor shield -sensor for sale | eBay
Thanks, yes I got a clone from ebay. I have been to the two locations you suggest already and they were no real help at all. I think I must be missing something obvious (I am pretty new to all of this !). When I downloaded a library to run an mp3 module the provider gave a list of "method" which I presume each call a function in the library. I downloaded the library from adafruit which as instructed I renamed AFMotor (or something similar ) But how do I know what methods or calls I can make. In other words I haven't a clue what is actually in the library !
In the Arduino IDE, under examples, you will find some examples after the library is installed. Did you try the examples ?
The link to ladyada shows a few sketches, and they have lines like this: "motor.run(FORWARD);" Did you see them ?
Or if you try the sketch in the Playground section, the explanation is in the sketch itself.
What does a mp3 module have to do with the motor shield ?
OK Thanks. I obviously have to poke around amongst the examples. Seems a curious way to explain it, I would have thought there would be a simple list of functions ! ah well back to the drawing board. Reason for mp3 and motor shields is that I am building a talking scarecrow and the servos power the eyes !
Servos ?
You don't need a motor shield for servos.
Use a good power supply for the Servos, and use a pin of the Arduino to the signal wire of the servo. That is all there is.
Right. I guess I'm being lazy ! Thought there might be a nice bit of code to change the speed at which the servo moves to help me learn a bit more about coding.but I have started to do as you suggest and try to write myself a piece of code... Thanks for the comment !