Hi everyone. Well, I am pretty puzzled right now. I have a sabertooth on the tri-track platform running since a while with some microcontroller. It was controlled by PWM.
I switched to a more “robot-oriented” controller, Arduino Uno. I tried Simplified serial and when I powered up the sabertooth… BOOM! The 6-pin chip burnt up in flames on one channel. The other channel works all fine and when I switch the motor that made the chip burn to the still working side, it is okay.
So, the motor doesnt seem to be the problem. Is there anything that I should have know about the power sequence or whatever? I wrote to them about giving me the ID of the chip, but I don’t expect them to give it to me. Then, if i’m to buy another one, I’d like not to burn it again…
Here are some infos on my setup:
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Sabertooth powered by 12V battery through switch. Was off at the beginning.
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Arduino powered by USB for now, tri-track still on test bench (tracks spinning in the air)
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Sabertooth S1 was connected to Arduino’s I/O pin used for TX serial.
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Arduino’s et Sabertooth’s ground (0V) were connected together. (Do i need to connect the B- to the Arduino’s ground too ?)
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both motor were connected to M1A/M1B and M2A/M2B (obviously…)
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motors do have the capacitor, but no fuse
If any info is missing, don’t hesitate to ask. I’d really like to know what might have happened 
Thank you for your help. I’m really close to having a nice working vehicle. Already interfaced PS2 controller successfully and the sabertooth should be okay too. Even a LCD ! 
Alex