Power Driver Shield questions

I’ve had an Arduino for about a month and just got a Power Driver Shield and was hoping someone could answer a few basic questions.

The MOSFET datasheet indicates that it can handle up to 60V, yet the shield just has inputs labeled just for 12V and 5V. Is it possible to drive up to six 24V PWM outputs with this shield, and if so how could that be accomplished? (I know that I’ll need to supply 24V input, am just concerned about what would happen if I tried to do it on the 12V and/or 5V inputs.)

It’s not clear to me what the Power Supply On-Off switch on this shield does…does it effectively power down the shield?

Thanks for any info!

Mark

Link to data sheet???

Did you look at the schematics to see where the on/off switch is connected?

I am guesing you are talking about https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10618

The switch turns on the ATX power supply that is plugged into the 24-pin connector. If the Arduino isn’t powered some other way, it will get turned off too.

To run on 24V, you would need to do the following:

  • Supply +24V to both the 5V and 12V pins on the 24-pin connector (note that only 1 5v pin is used so that may limit the amount of current you can pull on those 3 MOSFETs

  • Remove D1. The Arduino is NOT designed to have 24v on its Vin pin. You will need to power the Arduino some other way (ie the barrel connector on the Arduino itself)

  • Replace R7 and R8 with 4K7 1/4W resistors

(I haven’t tried it but that’s what I see looking over the schematics)

/mike

I am guesing you are talking about https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10618

Yes I am, and thanks for the info, very helpful!

Mark