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Motor Board

The Motor Board can be used to control two 12V DC motors. These can be used for moving your robot, although don’t feel you are limited to using them for this purpose.

The speed and direction of the two outputs are controlled independently through the USB interface. The USB interface is isolated from the rest of the board to prevent damage to the host in the case of a board failure. Due to this isolation the board must have power applied to both the power connector (from the 12V outputs on the power board) and the USB port. If the board does not have power applied to the power connector then the kit will report that there is a problem with the motor board.

Board diagram

Board Diagram

Indicators

LED Meaning Initial power-up state
Power The board is powered On
M0/M1 Speed/Direction Brightness indicates speed, colour indicates direction Off
USB Power The USB interface is powered On
USB Data Data is being transferred to/from the board Off

Case dimensions

The case measures 70x84x20mm. Don’t forget that the cables will stick out.

Specification

Parameter Value
Nominal input voltage 11.1V ± 15%
Absolute maximum input voltage 16V
Minimum input voltage 9V
Output voltage 11.1V ± 15%
Continuous output current per channel 10A
Peak output current 1 20A
UART connection voltage 2 3.3–5V

Designs

You can access the schematics and source code of the firmware on the motor board in the following places. You do not need this information to use the board but it may be of interest to some people.


  1. Can be sustained for one second, on a single channel. 

  2. If the board is controlled solely via the UART connection, this voltage must be supplied via the UART connector.