2A Dual Motor Control
bex 2014-04-30 12:15:01 3884 Views3 Replies Hi,
I am using the 2A Dual Motor Control (product code DRI0002 - NOT the shield), with an arduino to control some motors on a robot built in my lab. I had a serious problem last Friday which fried the ATmega16u2 chip on my arduino.
Something happened when I was going through my motor test. The arduino was connected to my computer via USB so i could monitor some test code. I was ramping up the motors then slowing them down using PWM. At one point, something caused the computer to shutdown. I immediately powered everything down. From then on, the computer does not "see" the arduino. I have plugged the arduino into several different computers and many different USB ports and nothing happens. The arduino still powers on and still runs the "sketch" I had loaded. This leads me to believe the chip which provides communication VIA usb got fried (the ATMega 16u2).
I ran the tests on smaller motors and other motors before testing them on our robot motors. I didn't have any problems. The motors didn't show any problems for awhile. i don't know what happened.
The robot motors are rated at 12 V with max current at 1.4A. I would ramp up the motor by ramping up the pwm, then let it hang at 255 then ramp it down. I then reversed the motor direction and did the same thing. Then, I tried to just have a constant speed on the motor to observe voltage and current.
Setup:
Benchtop DC Power Supply (0-32VDC, 0-5A) (PS)
Desktop PC
Arduino Uno R3
2A Dual Motor Controller (MC)
Compact DC Gearmotor: 12 VDC, 1.4A, 16 rpm
Arduino connected to computer via USB for power and communication
Arduino 5v --> VD (MC)
Arduino GND --> Gnd (MC)
Arduino Pin 6 --> E2 (MC)
Arduino Pin 4 --> M2 (MC)
PS (+) lead --> VS (MC)
PS (-) lead --> Gnd (MC)
Motor Lead --> (+) terminal (MC)
Motor lead --> (-) terminal (MC)
Removed the VD=VS jumper on the MC
Running these tests on the Robot motors caused the power supply to do weird things like the voltage on the benchtop power supply would go up from 12 to 14VDC. The current would jump around and the motors didn't seem happy. I measured the voltage at the (+) and (-) motor terminals on the motor controller card and i never saw it reach 12 V, even as I ramped up the PWM to 255.
Can the arduino really share the GND with the power supply for the motors requiring 12 volts and 1.4 amps?
Any clue as to what happened?
Thanks,
Rebecca
I am using the 2A Dual Motor Control (product code DRI0002 - NOT the shield), with an arduino to control some motors on a robot built in my lab. I had a serious problem last Friday which fried the ATmega16u2 chip on my arduino.
Something happened when I was going through my motor test. The arduino was connected to my computer via USB so i could monitor some test code. I was ramping up the motors then slowing them down using PWM. At one point, something caused the computer to shutdown. I immediately powered everything down. From then on, the computer does not "see" the arduino. I have plugged the arduino into several different computers and many different USB ports and nothing happens. The arduino still powers on and still runs the "sketch" I had loaded. This leads me to believe the chip which provides communication VIA usb got fried (the ATMega 16u2).
I ran the tests on smaller motors and other motors before testing them on our robot motors. I didn't have any problems. The motors didn't show any problems for awhile. i don't know what happened.
The robot motors are rated at 12 V with max current at 1.4A. I would ramp up the motor by ramping up the pwm, then let it hang at 255 then ramp it down. I then reversed the motor direction and did the same thing. Then, I tried to just have a constant speed on the motor to observe voltage and current.
Setup:
Benchtop DC Power Supply (0-32VDC, 0-5A) (PS)
Desktop PC
Arduino Uno R3
2A Dual Motor Controller (MC)
Compact DC Gearmotor: 12 VDC, 1.4A, 16 rpm
Arduino connected to computer via USB for power and communication
Arduino 5v --> VD (MC)
Arduino GND --> Gnd (MC)
Arduino Pin 6 --> E2 (MC)
Arduino Pin 4 --> M2 (MC)
PS (+) lead --> VS (MC)
PS (-) lead --> Gnd (MC)
Motor Lead --> (+) terminal (MC)
Motor lead --> (-) terminal (MC)
Removed the VD=VS jumper on the MC
Running these tests on the Robot motors caused the power supply to do weird things like the voltage on the benchtop power supply would go up from 12 to 14VDC. The current would jump around and the motors didn't seem happy. I measured the voltage at the (+) and (-) motor terminals on the motor controller card and i never saw it reach 12 V, even as I ramped up the PWM to 255.
Can the arduino really share the GND with the power supply for the motors requiring 12 volts and 1.4 amps?
Any clue as to what happened?
Thanks,
Rebecca
2014-05-04 19:34:17 Sharing GND should not be a problem. it will reduce the difference of potential.
Could you attach a picture about your hardware connection? Grey.CC
Could you attach a picture about your hardware connection?
Grey.CC 2014-05-01 06:36:29 Thanks for the reply. I'm ordering some additional Arduinos now to continue testing. I'm also going to revive the broken one but I can't spend time on that right now.
What is important to me is to try to figure out what happened so it doesn't happen again! :-\ Does anyone have any advice?
I have one idea of what could have happened but I am not very sure at all if it is correct. I think the (-) connection from the power supply to the GND on the Motor Controller may have been loose. If this connection was loose, could it cause a surge in the Arduino since the Arduino GND was connected to the Motor Controller GND?
Thanks!
Bex bex
What is important to me is to try to figure out what happened so it doesn't happen again! :-\ Does anyone have any advice?
I have one idea of what could have happened but I am not very sure at all if it is correct. I think the (-) connection from the power supply to the GND on the Motor Controller may have been loose. If this connection was loose, could it cause a surge in the Arduino since the Arduino GND was connected to the Motor Controller GND?
Thanks!
Bex
bex 2014-04-30 20:23:53 Yeah, it is a good idea to share the Arduino GND to the module power supply.
And you mean you UNO board still could work, but there is no COM port in the device manager?
I think your point is right, maybe ATmega16u2 is broken. Do you have a USBtinyISP, Iwhich could upload the bootloader directly? If the UNO chip 328p is not broken, it could upload the sketch via USBtinyISP.
Grey.CC
And you mean you UNO board still could work, but there is no COM port in the device manager?
I think your point is right, maybe ATmega16u2 is broken. Do you have a USBtinyISP, Iwhich could upload the bootloader directly? If the UNO chip 328p is not broken, it could upload the sketch via USBtinyISP.
Grey.CC 