I’m using an Adafruit motor shield v2 but this question applies to motor control in general.
When I change the direction of the motor (e.g., FORWARD to BACKWARD), do I have to stop the motor at zero first?
If I do have to stop it first, do I have to just set the speed to zero and do I have to RELEASE it?
I don’t know if it is bad for the motor to suddenly transition from one direction to another.
What kind of motor are you using?
Not knowing what motor you’re using, I would say it’s generally not a good idea to reverse direction suddenly. If it was a tiny motor that didn’t pull alot of current, then yea it’s probably ok. But if it’s a high voltage/current motor, then no, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you need it to reverse direction quickly, you can slow the motor down really quick then reverse it…
Although I haven’t used the Adafruit’s shield or library, you shouldn’t have to RELEASE it. Just put a command to reverse the direction.