Using 4 motors as two ?

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hi,
I would like to know if i can use 4 motors as if they are only two motors.
That means i'll combine the wires of two motors and use it as a single motor(i.e.two digital pins) and same way for the other two motors.Will it work ?

I want to do this because i am running short of PWM pins on arduino uno.

2

What type of motors and what type of motor controller?

3

By and large yes. As long as the motor driver circuit can supply the current.
This is even done with stepping motors wiring them in parallel for the Z axis of a RepRap Mendel.

4

MarkT:
What type of motors and what type of motor controller?

The motors are 12V metal geared motors with 1A stall current each and the driver i am planning to use is L298.

Thanks Grumpy_Mike

5

Cool - was just checking they weren't something exotic like series-wound traction motors(!)

6

kawal:

MarkT:
What type of motors and what type of motor controller?

The motors are 12V metal geared motors with 1A stall current each and the driver i am planning to use is L298.

Thanks Grumpy_Mike

You can wire DC motors in series or in parallel; wiring them in parallel will increase the current draw (approx 2A in your case at stall). In series, the current draw (I think...) will be the same as for one motor, and each motor will see "half" of the voltage. This kind of system (using a couple of switches - one for reverse, one for series/parallel switching) is used in the PowerWheels ride-on toy to make a simple but effective (and robust) high/low speed selection system in their 12 VDC dual-motor ride-on toys.

Note that if you are going for a parallel drive, at 2 amps per pair, that L298 is going to need a good heatsink on it (otherwise it will just go into thermal/overcurrent shutdown fairly quickly).