powering Arduino UNO r3 and Adafruit Motor Shield v2

Using Arduino Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hello everybody,

I have just received my two mentioned boards and I want to power a stepper motor (adafruit 324).
I have installed all the libraries, the IDE, and compiled and loaded the stepper example.
If I use 5V USB power (inserting VIN jumper on Motorshield V2) I see how the stepper works but it seems with a low torque.
Instead of that, if I power the board using a 12V/1A jack and it seems to work ok.

The main doubt that I have is if I want to communicate with the motor using the USB virtual COM port and an external power (in order to have the desired torque).

  1. Is only possible by powering the Arduino uno r3 by usb, removing the VIN jumper (MotorShield) and using the blue VIN (5-12 V) terminal ports?

  2. Because if I plug both (USB and JACK POWER) with VIN jumper inserted (MotorShield), could it damage the board?

Hope your answers, thank you so much

Enrique

2
  1. No, if you using USB power , the VIn on the Uno would be low, do not suffient for the motor shield.
  2. Yes, the motor shield would generate a 5V for the system, equal to the USB power . actually, you can Remove the USB then.