Newbie needs help on Motor Driver Shield

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Hello everyone! This is my first ever post on this forum.

Lets say that i want to build a simple car that moves while avoiding obstacles. I have 4 DC motors along with their wheels (the motors that usually come fitted with a yellow gear box that attaches to the wheels).

I do know that the Arduino Uno is incapable of powering the motors directly due to its current limitation. I got myself a motor driver shield, a photo of which I have attached below. There is one 74HC595 IC and 2 motor driver L293D ICs.

IMG_20220524_213003_045
IMG_20220524_213003_0451920×864 138 KB

My first question:

Can the motor shield be used to power the Arduino Uno directly if we supply power to the EXT_PWR terminal block, while running the motors too?

2nd Question:
I have a battery holder that can hold 4x 1.5V cells which equals 6V in series. Will this be sufficient to power the Arduino and the motors if this input is given into the EXT_PWR block? What is the maximum safe voltage input that I can supply to this shield?

3nd Question (out of curiosity):

What happens if I power the Arduino using the cable connected to my computer, and supply 6V to the shield simultaneously?

4th Question:

What things should I watch out for to prevent ruining my board?

Extensive answers will be highly appreciated since I'm a tech geek.

Cheers!

2

Answers to all of your questions can be found in the information for the shield and the required current draw of the motors.

3

No. The L293 need to be powered by 5 volt. The L298 provides 5 volt.

It can power the motors but not the UNO.

It has a very good chance of working provided the code is good.

Never connect or disconnect when any power is applied. Remove all power before changing any wires.

4

It's going to get very confusing when answers start appearing in the other identical thread.

5

Oh I'm sorry. I thought that I had posted my post in the wrong topic. Really sorry about that. I'll remove it.

6

That might need a little clarification. I may be wrong but the L298 chip does not provide 5V output- it also needs 5V logic supply inwards- but many L298 modules / shields do so. It's not (afaik) and inherent feature of the chip.

7

I am a little unsure on how to power the Arduino via the battery pack. Connected the Arduino to my computer AND supplying the shield with 6V via the battery pack runs flawlessly. However, the battery pack alone is unable to power the arduino And run the shield. Am I doing something wrong? Isn't there a way to power the Arduino simultaneously?

8

The 6V going to the Arduino is no longer sufficient. The voltage regulator on the Arduino will drop some voltage.
Perhaps try with a 6 cell pack (7.5V)?

9

Yes, that's likely correct.

10

Alrighty. Also, since the driver is making the digital i/O pins on the arduino inaccessible, can we use the analog pins on the driver as digital pins to use an ultrasonic sensor?

11

If you mean the Arduino analog pins mapped to the driver board, as long as they are not being used for something else (don't know the details of your driver board), they can be used as digital

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