I'm building a line follower robot as a college project and using this L293D shield seemed like a good solution for motor control/powering.
It goes back and forth, turns left and right, everything works. Problem is... it lasts about 10 seconds before the motors start to slow down to a point where the robot can't move.
I'm powering my Arduino Uno with a 9v battery and the shield with a 11.1v 2200mah Li-Po Battery (and I'm sure they're not under-charged or anything). I removed the jumper that prevents the shield from using a different power source, so they use the Li-Po. The robot moves with 2 5v 330rpm DC motors.
Whenever I turn on the system, I notice the shield gets very hot, and I assume I gotta blame those 2,2A from the Li-Po. However, I've seen videos where people use batteries like this and things work just right. Could that really be the problem?
You told us about the power supply, a 11.1 volts, 2200 mAh LiPo battery.
You also told about 2 motors which are designed to operate on 5 volts.
Where do you put the other 6 volts available from your battery ?
Some of it will leave your L293D by means of heat, you already noticed that.
What is the stall current of those motors of yours ?
You need data like that (or rather all relevant data available) so you can learn how to manage the motor.
You need data like that (or rather all relevant data available) so you can learn how to manage the motor driver chip.
Relevant data is supposed to be available in the product's datasheet (click !)
Find the current your L293D can handle, and under which conditions those numbers are valid (the conditions are mentioned).
The datasheet holds your answer, so read it.
