How to run a motor from a main board single? Do I need a double?

Development Boards MicroMod
1

Hi! :slight_smile: I’m in way over my head with something I think is pretty simple. Figured I’d ask a quick question.

My goal is to make a device which can run a motor at a configurable interval and to allow the configuration to be modified while out in nature.

I ordered the SparkFun Blues Wireless MicroMod Starter Kit as a means of achieving the remote configurability. This is all working great - no issues. Notably, it comes with a Main Board - Single and an STM32 processor.

I also ordered some basic hardware to play around with a motor. I have:

  • - Motor Driver - Dual TB6612FNG (with Headers)

  • - Hobby Motor with Encoder - Metal Gear (DG01D-E)

    • As well as a basic breadboard, jumper wires, and battery holder.

    I can turn the motor on/off from the breadboard fine, but I don’t understand how I am supposed to connect the Motor Driver to my Main Board. I think I am supposed to connect PWMA, AIN1, AIN2, and STBY to a PWM GPIO pin and three other GPIO pins, but I have no idea how to do that or if this board actually supports that functionality.

    I looked at a YouTube tutorial for running a motor using an Arduino Uno (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LBiyBTnt7g). It looks like that device has clear female slots that I could connect my wires into, but I don’t see those on the Main Board - Single. When I reviewed the product guide on the main board - single I heard some notes about some connectors only being available on the double (https://youtu.be/GeeHryO9D8k?t=149). I don’t think I need two function boards, but maybe I am missing those ports?

    Additionally, in the hookup guide for the main board, I read:

    Switches

    Certain processors have limited GPIO (e.g. SAMD51, ESP32, and STM32 to name a few) and so these alternative power enable pins have been provided.

    and I wasn’t sure if “limited GPIO” was an issue here.

    Anyway, sorry for the completely naïve question. Am I able to achieve what I want using this board? Do I need the double? Do I need some adapter? Am I completely off the mark?

    Thanks for your time

    EDIT: oh, one more thing, I don’t have a need to control the motor’s speed. It can be really dumb. I just need to turn a motor on, run it for a few seconds, and turn it off. I think this might make the setup simpler?

    EDIT2: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15451 do I want this?! It looks like this is a qwiic motor driver? so I could connect this to the qwiic port on my board and run the motor that way?

    2

    Still doing some research here and going to keep tacking on some info.

    My actual goal is to run a motor like this: https://www.transmotec.com/product/jd5fn-3230-cvc and it says it wants 1.5A but the Qwiic Motor Driver only wants to do 1.2A steady // 1.5A peak.

    I only need to run one motor, though, and the motor driver can run two? So if things are wired in parallel then I could stay within spec?

    https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15093 or maybe this is the way? Since I just need to turn one motor on/off for 30s at a time - this can handle the amps and its simplicity is actually a benefit not a limitation! I think I’m going to go with this unless someone has a good reason not to

    3

    You might consider using a Arduino Uno and a beefcake relay kit.

    You do have to solder the relay kit but this is about as simple as it gets for turning something on and off.

    4

    The current rating for the JD5FN-3230-CVC motor is “1.5A nominal” which is not very informative. The start/stall current, which is briefly drawn every time a brushed DC motor shaft starts rotating, can be 5-10X that high.

    According to the motor data sheet, the stall current is 8.4 A, so the motor driver needs to handle at least 10 Amperes.

    A logic level MOSFET is slightly more complicated, but more reliable than a relay to turn it on and off, as the relay contacts can burn. The inductive kick diode in the diagram below is required.

    dc_motor_driver

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