I have 4 6v DC stepper motors with wheels, mounts etc. This is all quite new to me. I have a couple of micro controllers and have bought an adafruit motor controller. I now need to buy other parts and accessories. I think I would like to use rechargeable lipo batteries but am unsure of what to buy. The motors I have are 6V but the lipo batteries I see are either 3V or 7 V. This will be my first robot project and I would like any purchase I make, be useable in the future. Also I would like to be able to recharge batteries in-situ rather than having to remove and recharge. I am a complete newbie. Any help in suggesting what I need to buy would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Can you provide a list of the products you have (ideally with links)? This will help us provide some options, and also check if everything you have is compatible.
The labels for the motors read:LT25GA98-280 6V 150 +_ RPM. the motor controller is adafruit motor shield. I also have both an arduino uno and an arduino Due. I would like to build my own chassis.
If you have an Adafruit motor shield, it sounds like it might be DC; is it specified that it can control either two or four stepper motors?
However, based on the product code you provided, it sounds like you have a normal DC gear motor - not a stepper motor.
This is why links to the products are important.
The motors are indeed DC gear motors. The Adafruit Motor Controller specifies, quote " You can use 2 DC Servos that run on 5V and up to 4 DC motors or 2 stepper motors ( or 1 stepper and up to 2 DC motors)". Not knowing any better at the time, I bought the motors from ebay
stores.ebay.com/bellevue2046/Rob … 34.c0.m322
Top Gear 4-pcs Set: Wheel + Stepper Motor + Motor Grip + Coupling *for ROBOT Car
Sometimes one has to learn the hard way.
When they indicate “step down” motor, they really meant “gear motor”; nothing to do with stepper motors. Ensure that the motor controller can provide enough current per channel to power a pair of these motors without issue.
You should be able to use a 7.4V LiPo with the motors (seem to be nominal 6V). We do not have any compact 7.4V battery charger which are intended to be used on a robot, but you can hack something like this:
robotshop.com/en/18w-lipo-ba … =RB-Kow-02
You would plug the LiPo’s charging cable into this unit, and leave the higher current power cables from the battery connected to the motor controller.
Ex: robotshop.com/en/74v-2000mah … =RB-Kow-12
Thank you very much for your quick replies. I will follow your suggestions.