Monday, May 3, 2010

Motor Controller + Xbee + Arduino = Awesome


Good news everybody!

The arduino + high current motor controller shield + xbee shield from SparkFun all work together! When I originally designed the motor controller shield a year and a half ago, I had planned on using the original arduino xbee shield. Since then, I discovered the the SparkFun version which features prototyping area, option to switch rx/tx lines to pin2 and pin3, and doesn't require the programming header on the arduino for the reset line.

Although I need to do some more load testing, I couldn't help to throw on some headers and fire it up. All that is left is to add some thermistors for monitoring temperatures, throw the system in an enclosure, and dump it on some wheels and drive it around!

4 comments :

  1. How would one use this for cases when you need to reverse the motor? Example: landing gear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think this shield is awesome. I'd buy it for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree - the shield looks very high-quality!

    Is there someway we could talk directly - perhaps via email? I have some questions I would like to ask you about your shield design.

    For example the motor I want to control has the torque I need within the shield's amperage rating. However the motor can possibly draw more current than the shield can deliver during stall conditions. Can the shield be programmed to limit the current drawn by the motors to a specified safe amperage?

    ReplyDelete
  4. The chips it uses do have a current sense, so yes, you should be able to limit the amount of current drawn.

    ReplyDelete