Fried my motor controller

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

Hey guys,

I bought the robotshop.com/eu/robotshop-robot-rover-development-platform-arduino-rubber-tracks.html kit, and I think I just fried the provided motor controller.

The provided motor controller is a robotshop.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pc=RB-Pol-16 and as soon as I insert the batteries I saw a little smoke going up.

I connected the wires as described in the guide, so I don’t understand what I did wrong. How can the motor controller die if I only apply the 6V voltage to it?

Do I have to buy a new one or can I test it if it’s actually dead?

I’m so angry right now :frowning:

Many thanks in advance!
Oliver

2

Hello Coleman,

thanks for your reply. Yeah this mistake would be really silly, shame on me…
I just connected the red wire from the battery case to the VMOT pin, and the black to the GND pin. But I forgot to check if battery case is wired correctly :frowning: Maybe there is the problem.
Okay I’ll order the one you linked, but just one question: The voltage range is described with 7-12V, does my robot work with that? (because the battery pack provides 6V = 4 x 1,5V AA batteries?)

Kind regards,
Oliver

3

Thank you very much for your help and explanation! I already ordered the new motor controller, if I need further help I may get back to you, but thank you for now :slight_smile:
Have a nice day!

4

Well that’s interesting, I bought a multimeter and measured the input, it’s fine. The red is + and the black is -.
That makes it even more interesting why it went up in “flames”. Also I can’t see any shortcut :confused:

5

I will try to only connect the VMOT and GND pin, and see what happens. I already disconnected all other pins, because they joints didn’t look nice :smiley:

6

Okay I connected these two pins and nothing happened, so that looked good. Is it possible to measure some voltages if it’s still good? (If I only have connected the power supply)
But I can’t do anything today anymore, so few free time :frowning:

7

Alright thanks for the fast reply, the new motor controller should arrive any day so no need to risk anything. Thanks for your help!!! :slight_smile:

8

Many thanks for the answer! But if I power the Arduino with the USB cable, and also have the 4xAA battery pack for the motors, I don’t have a problem with common ground, do I?

9

Isn’t the power leads the wiring, which is connected with the green and yellow wires in my picture? Or are there other power leads too?

10

Hello Coleman,
is there a wiring manual for the DFRobot Arduino Compatible Motor Shield (2A)? I’m now back from my vacation, and want to try the new motor controller, but I want to be sure this time :slight_smile:
Also why can I power the Arduino with USB (5V), but here it says it needs 9V: playground.arduino.cc/Learning/WhatAdapter

Kind regards,
Oliver

11

Hello Coleman,
sorry I’m so annoying, I guess you hate me by now :smiley:

I connected the motor with the motor shield, but nothing happens if I run my program. I uploaded the wiring here

This is the program I use, it should run the motor with a variable speed all the time, if I read the code correctly.

[FONT=Courier New]int E1 = 7;
int M1 = 6;

void setup() {
pinMode(M1, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
int value;
for(value = 0 ; value <= 255; value+=5) {
digitalWrite(M1,HIGH);
analogWrite(E1, value); //PLL Speed Control
delay(30);
}
}[/FONT]

What am I doing wrong? Before I forget, the Arduino is blinking red/green every few seconds after I uploaded the program.

But I’m happy, no smoke at all! :smiley:

Many thanks!
Oliver

12

The only thought is if you wired the red (positive) wire to the black (negative) lead. The controller does not have reverse polarity protection and based on what you described, that seems like it may have been the case. Most of these smaller motor controller boards don’t have any protection at all. Fortunately, there are quite a few options to replace it with, and we suggest something in a shield format like the DFRobot Arduino Compatible Motor Shield (2A). Almost no wiring required.

13

The shield can accept 4.8-35V via external power supply, but be absolutely certain you don’t use the Vin pin at the same time (there are jumpers on the board which you will need to understand so it gets power from both the 9V - for the logic voltage, and 4.8V-6V for the motor voltage). We suggest rechargeable AAs so you don’t burn through batteries. These jumpers are right behind the pair of screw terminals and are marked with PWRIN. Welcome to robotics - we all make mistakes like that.

14

You mean short circuit? Feel free to post images here before applying power - we’ll be happy to take a look.

15

If there was smoke, we’re 95% certain part of the circuit was fried. In the 5% chance that it can still work, we’d suggest not using it since it’s at reduced capacity and can be dangerous.

16

Datasheet
Schematic

Note that the DFRobotShop Motor Controller Shield is based heavily on the DFRobot Motor Shield, but with two differences:

]Pinout is different because the DFRobotShop rover’s motor controller pins would otherwise interfere with the shield’s pins./:m]
]The analog pins are broken out to GND, V and Signal for convenience./:m]
The Arduino can be powered at 5V via USB (it’s a nice clean 5V), but if you want to use a different voltage, it needs to pass via the onboard regulator. Most of the time, there is a drop in voltage when you use a regulator, so a 7-12V battery (9V is just convenient) is suggested. Note that the regulator on the DFRobotShop Rover is different and will step up a 3.7V LiPo or step down a 7-12V battery (so only one battery is needed).

17

Correct. This approach allows you to control the robot via USB.

18

Perhaps you forgot to connect the power leads to your motor shield. Can you provide a diagram or picture of your setup so we can help you further?