I have a question, and after I read a lot of this in this forum, I saw many answers but I didn't understood nothing. My problem is I am a programmer not an electronic, so if someone could help me I will be very appreciated.
I bought a Mr.Basic system and I will connect it to an arduino uno + arduino motor shield. I have some simple questions.
The batterie support has 2 wires. Where do I connect them?
The motors has 4 (2 each other) pins. Where do I connect them?
Finally, is it possible to increase the power and put, let's say, a 9v batery? If yes, where do I connect it?
I know thats re very simple question, but I'm new at assemble robots, so please forgime me this sealy questions.
The battery has a red and black wire. Red is + and black is -. The motors connect to the motor shield. Without seeing the shield, it is difficult to tell you more than that. Square 9v batteries are terrible for driving a robot. They don’t really have enough current capacity to drive a bot for any period of time.
Thanks for your quickly answers. As I told you before, I’m not an expert in electronic, so I´ll try to explain myself a little better. The Mr. Basic I’ve bought is the one in the picture, and I suppose is the one the OddBot told.
The motor shield is the arduino original, as the picture below.
So, what is the order of the connections from the motor to the shield. In the shield I've 6 connections - 1GND, 1 5v, 2 positives and 2 negatives. I think I could connect the red wire to 5v and the black to GND on arduino shield. Is that correct? But what is the order of the motor connections.
You told me the 9v batterie don't have enough current capacity but the bot cames with a connection for 3x1,5v batteries, Do you thing that connection is enough for the motors or do I need, as OddBo told, NiMh or a LiPo batteries?
You are correct on the GND and Vin. For the motors, take the two wires from one motor and insert them individually in to the + and - on A. Take the other two and do the same for B. The + and - are somewhat misnamed. Your motor will turn one direction when current flows one way, and, it will spin the opposite direction when current flows the other direction. If a motor doesn’t behave like you want, you have two options change the direction in software, or, swap the wires on the motor driver board. Within reason, either option is inconcequential.
Re: batteries. 3 x 1.5 is not enough for arduinos as far as I know. Most/all(?) have voltage regulators that expect about 7 volts in that will then be dropped to 5 volts on the board. Also, I can’t imagine 4.5v being enough to drive the motors through a motor driver chip. Especially, not the L298 that is used on that driver board. Your motors would likely only see about 2.5v.
**https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Robotics/L298_H_Bridge.pdf The bottom of page 3 mentions total drop. Notice 1.8v min to 3.2v max for 1A and up to 4.9v max for 2A. I am pretty sure this is the ~2v drop I have read about that is expected when using this driver.
Your safest bet currently would be something like 6 AA 2000+mAh NiMH batteries. That should give you a fairly consistent 7+v over the run time of your creation.
