i have an dyemilanove (atmega328) powered with 9volts and a adafruit motor shield do i need anything else to use a 7.2 volt motor :-/
(i hooked it to +5 and grnd and it was sluggish and suck up all the power it made the power light dim) :o
It depends how much current the motor needs, not just voltage. Have a look at its specification. Have a look for load current. For exampleTechnobots give a useful specification which gives the "Nominal full Load Current".
If you can't find that look for the stall current, and try to ensure it is well within the maximums for the shield.
I think the adafruit motor shield can drive 0.6A motors with 1.2A peak (stall current). You can parallel the motor drivers (if you know what you are doing) to drive a larger current motor.
HTH
GB
it pulls more than an amp................ :o :o :o :o
and i have no clue wat the rest of that parallel stuff ment
it pulls more than an amp................
and i have no clue wat the rest of that parallel stuff ment
Each pair of outputs on the motor shield can drive 0.6A.
You can connect two sets of outputs to one motor - that's what I mean by parallel the motor drivers. That would be enough for a 1.2A motor. You could connect all four of the motor drive outputs to one motor if necessary.
You need to be a bit careful because you need to drive all motor drivers with the same signal, and you need to ensure they outputs are connected the same way round.
Each motor driver will make one output wire connect to the positive side of the power, and the other to ground.
You can probably imagine that even if two motor drivers were trying to do exactly the same thing, it would be bad to connect the side of one, trying to be positive, to the side of the other trying to connect to ground.
HTH
GB
is there a way i could offload it to something else ( keeping aduino control) and make this simpler???
s there a way i could offload it to something else ( keeping aduino control) and make this simpler???
I don't understand what you mean.
What is the "it"? What might be simpler?
The hardware is potentially exactly what you have.
There is no need for more if the motor needs less than 4 x 0.6A = 2.4A
The tricky part is setting the PWM signals up right, and wiring up the motor up correctly.
It would be simpler if you had a motor driver which could directly handle the current that your motor uses (or a lower power motor). Pololu sell motor driver boards that would do that.
HTH
GB
it is the motor power off of the shield
I'm sorry I don't understand what you would like, what would be simpler?
I'm off to bed, maybe someone else will help.
Good night
GB
The Adafruit shield includes terminals for connecting a separate motor supply, and you should definitely be hooking it to something other than the 5V. The L293D will drop about 2.5 to 3V under full load, so you should use a regulated supply of 9-10V.
You also need to find out how much current the motor really needs, to make sure you're not destroying the driver chip.