after a while fooling around with different types of LEDs, processing and SSRs to control my lights, i want to start building a simple robot. so i decided to get some motors with a gearbox and a shield to control the entire thing.
Does the shield fit on an Arduino Uno SMD? They only listed the old Arduinos.
But the FAQ of the shield says max 600mA. And the specs of the gearbox say "Stall current @ 3V: 2100 mA"
-> if my motors get stuck, it will destroy my motor shield?
What additional power supply would fit this setting, what battery / batteries should i connect to the shield (if the shield works with the gear box, depending on question 1 and 2)?
Or should i create a shield on my own with relais? but how to control the spin-direction of the motors?
It does not have to be a shield, your mentioned board looks excellent, but... i would prefer to buy in a german or european shop, because the customs authorities in germany are very very slow -.- it hate the fact that it is so difficult to get all the good stuff here in germany(!)... shops like watterott.com have some good items but the range is limited.
you don't know a good european shop, do you?
i cant find a shop providing (cheap) dual motor shields
edit: i am thinking about building a controller myself. is there a good tutorial out there? couldn't find any yet
The biggest snag on those motors when looking for a motor driver is the voltage. Most of the motor shields will only drive a minimum of 4.5V. If you drive those motors at 5v, they're going to have a significantly reduced life.
I bought that same Gearbox kit a while ago, and replaced the motors a week later.
Thank you for your help. I found another Dual Motor Driver. I am going to try this one, i guess. It could handle a peak up to 3A. Sure i have to take care that the motors don't reach their "stall current" for a long time... hopefully it isn't too stressful for them to move the board on Tank Tracks... hmm tires would be easier to move? But for my first project with that simple gearbox and for experimenting, in my opinion it will be a good and low cost solution.
What do you guys think about the mentioned motor driver?
That motor driver looks like it's good for 3V motor power, so you should be good to go. You can easily limit motor current via PWM. Just avoid driving the motor at 100% and you shouldn't exceed the motor drivers current rating.
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