Running a motor with Minima R4 and L293D motor sheild

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hello,
My motor won't run at all with any Arduino code. It runs when directly connected to my battery but I need to code it. Here's an image and my code (from ChatGPT).

IMG_0064.HEIC
IMG_0064.HEIC3024×2988 2.4 MB

// Define the pins for the L293D motor shield
const int motorPin1 = 3;  // M1 Pin 1 (IN1 on L293D)
const int motorPin2 = 4;  // M1 Pin 2 (IN2 on L293D)

void setup() {
  // Set motor pins as outputs
  pinMode(motorPin1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motorPin2, OUTPUT);
  
  // Set the motor to move forward (IN1 HIGH, IN2 LOW)
  digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
}

void loop() {
}
2

ChatGPT is completely out to lunch on this one. The L293D pins on that shield are not connected directly to the Uno's pins.

image
image1899×1130 93.1 KB

3

I mounted the shield directly on top of the Uno and all the shield's pins went into an Uno's hole. There's basically nothing else for me to connect the two. As for the code, ChatGPT is all I got.

IMG_0065.HEIC
IMG_0065.HEIC4032×2446 2.28 MB

4

The shield's pins do go into the Uno's headers.

The L293D pins DO NOT go directly to the shield's pins.

Examine the schematic. See for yourself.

Or continue to trust the nonsense that ChatGPT is feeding you. It's up to you.

Good luck.

5

Looks like you have an L293D shield, not an L298D, which is a different type of motor driver.

6

I'm confused, am I supposed to remove the L293D device from the shield and connect it to the Uno? The shield and L293D came in one piece when I bought it and its fully lodged in.

As for the schematic, I have no idea what is going on; I've never seen something like that. Is it supposed to show how I'm supposed to connect everything? I don't see a 1-2EN or anything in the red rectangle anywhere.

Thanks for your help thus far.

7

Yes but the L293D is a very old chip and can loose up to 2 to 4 volts on a connection. Therefore you need a bigger supply voltage to drive the motor than you have.

Then you have nothing. As others have said ChatGPT is not at all useful as it will just make things up if it does not know the answer.

For example ask it how many r are in the word Raspberry, and see what it tells you. That is how good ChatGPT is.

8

Where a 9V battery is depicted - Don't

9

Thank you so much, that was helpful. However, I get an error when I try to upload the code. Do you know how to fix it? I downloaded the Adafruit Motor Shield Library and the code was directly pasted from the website you provided.

/Users/myaccount/Documents/Arduino/libraries/Adafruit_Motor_Shield_library/AFMotor.h:156:47: error: 'DC_MOTOR_PWM_RATE' was not declared in this scope
   AF_DCMotor(uint8_t motornum, uint8_t freq = DC_MOTOR_PWM_RATE);
                                               ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

exit status 1

Compilation error: exit status 1
10

A cursory look through AFMotor.h reveals the following:

#if defined(__AVR__)
.
.
.
    #define DC_MOTOR_PWM_RATE   MOTOR34_8KHZ    // PWM rate for DC motors
.
.
.
#elif defined(__PIC32MX__)
.
.
.
    #define DC_MOTOR_PWM_RATE   MOTOR34_39KHZ
.
.
.
#endif

Based on that, the library will only work with microcontrollers from the AVR and PIC32 families. The Uno R4 is not a part of either of those families.

11

I hate it when that happens.
I did see how the pinModes must be in the cpp/h.

It's not a matter of digging out the pinModes, they're using a shift register on that thing. Oy vey.

12

Since the Uno R4 doesn't work with the library, do you know another library that would work with it? What do you suggest I do?

13

Trade the Minima for a Uno_R3.

14

To the best of my knowledge, no one has invested any effort into creating another library for a shield that was discontinued over a decade ago by its original manufacturer (Adafruit). And the people still selling cheap copies of it are not going to do so either; they've already got your money, so why bother?

If you are determined to continue with an R4, I'd suggest the following shield and its associated library (which is still maintained by Adafruit):

15

r3 uses usb-b and is, strangely, more expensive than r4 minima. Good point though.

16

Thanks, I'll look into it.

17

Fake/clone motor driver.
A $5 clone R3 would be a good match.
Keep the R4 for more serious projects.
Leo..