Looking for Advice on my project setup!

[troutt2013]

I am working on a project where I need to power two 12 V DC gear motors, 2 limit switches, 1 LED push button, a small speaker and an SD module.

My issues is that I’m just not sure if my set up is ok or if the amperage of the motors and everything is too much for my Arduino Mega 2560 to handle.

I’m very very new to Arduino as this is my first project so any wisdom on how I’ve got things set up would be great!

The motors are 12 V DC geared motors. Here are the amperage specs of the motors:

• No-Load Current: ≤1.2A
• Load Current: ≤5.0A

I’m using a 12V 5A battery as my power supply.

The motors are going to be lifting a fairly heavy load so they are definitely going to be pushing the full 5.0A.

I need to be able to start the motors with a push button, stop them with the limit switch and then change directions with the push button as well.

Right now, I have the motors wired to a breadboard and then wired from that directly to the Arduino Mega 2560 each wired with a Mosfet as well.

Is this going to be too much for the arduino to handle?

Is this the best setup for this or should I be using a motor driver or maybe some relays or something?

I just want to make sure this set up isn’t going to burn up the arduino or anything.

Any advice or help assessing this set up is appreciated!

[PerryBebbington]

The Arduino should not be powering anything and certainly not motors requiring 12V 5A, it is a controller, not a power supply. The motors should be powered from the battery and controlled by the Arduino.

You say you have a 12V 5A battery, I think you probably mean a 12V 5Ah battery. The 5 relates to the storage capacity of the battery, not the amount of current it can supply. It means, for example, that it would be able to supply 2A for 2h30m or 0.5A for 10h. Whether it can supply the possible 10A of the 2 motors is another question.

You can't use breadboard to connect motors requiring 5A, the contacts are not capable of carrying that much current, they will probably get hot and melt the plastic.

It would help to have links to the actual battery and motors you bought and to their data sheets, and a schematic of how you propose to wire them up.

[alto777]

@troutt2013

I’m using a 12V 5A battery as my power supply.

What kind of battery? Do you mean it has a 5 Amp hour charge capacity? What is the maximum current it can supply?

a7

[TomGeorge]

Hi, @troutt2013
Welcome to the forum.

Please read the post at the start of any forum , entitled "How to use this Forum".

How to get the best out of this forum

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Can you please post a circuit diagram of your project?
Just a picture of a hand drawn circuit will be fine.

Do you wish to control the speed of the motors?
Do you wish to control the direction of the motors?

Thanks.. Tom...

[troutt2013]

@PerryBebbington

You can't use breadboard to connect motors requiring 5A, the contacts are not capable of carrying that much current, they will probably get hot and melt the plastic.

This was actually really helpful and I think this helped me solve the issue/come up with a solution. After some more research I believe adding in a sabertooth 2x12 motor driver is going be the solution. I’ll be able to connect both motors to the driver as well as the power source for the motors and then connect that to the Arduino. Should help me avoid melting down the breadboard and the Arduino.

Thank you!

[PerryBebbington]

I suggest you also read the questions and answers in the motor's section of the forum, you will learn a lot from the help given to other people.

I don't know anything about that motor driver so I can't comment about whether it is a good choice or not.

[dave-in-nj]

this SCREAMS for a simple schematic.
hardware questions and schematics go hand in hand

The motor bit is simple, if we had a clue as what you are doing.
post a link to the motor spec sheet, or where you bought it or some such.
Battery will always be an afterthought. it really doesn't matter at this point.
if it drains too fast, there is only 1 solution, get more power. there is no big discussion there.

Motors usually need a driver. ( the Arduino is the controller)
The driver handles ALL of the high power and high voltage.
The Arduino controls the driver with very low power, 5v signals and never sees the high voltage.

[Paul_B]

Driver module if you need speed control, relay module if you do not. One relay for single direction operation, two SPDT (usual sort of) relays per motor for reversing.

[Paul_KD7HB]

@troutt2013

The motors are 12 V DC geared motors. Here are the amperage specs of the motors:

• No-Load Current: ≤1.2A
• Load Current: ≤5.0A

There is ONE more motor specification that is not given that may kill you design. That is the current needed at the instant the motor is started. It may be many times the "load current", which is the current AFTER the motor is turning.
Paul

[Paul_B]

@Paul_KD7HB

That is the current needed at the instant the motor is started.

Correctly called the "stall current". Possibly misquoted here as "Load Current".