Support » Pololu Motoron Motor Controller User’s Guide »
1. Overview
The Motoron motor controllers are a family of general-purpose modules designed to control brushed DC motors. The Motoron receives commands via I²C, so only two I/O lines are needed regardless of how many Motorons you connect. The Motoron modules are designed to plug into either a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino, and multiple Motoron controllers can be stacked on top of each other, allowing independent control of many motors.
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Motoron M3S256 Triple Motor Controller Shield for Arduino (Connectors Soldered). |
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The Motoron M3S256 Triple Motor Controller Shield for Arduino, shown above, can control three motors and is designed to plug into an Arduino or compatible board, such as the A-Star 32U4 Prime. The Motoron M3S256 can operate from 4.5 V to 48 V and has reverse-voltage protection on motor power supply (down to −40 V). Its maximum continuous output current per motor is 2.0 A and it can provide a peak current of 6.4 A for less than 1 second.
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Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi (Connectors Soldered). |
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The Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi, shown above, can control three motors and is designed to plug into a Raspberry Pi. The Motoron M3H256 can operate from 4.5 V to 48 V and has reverse-voltage protection on motor power supply (down to −40 V). Its maximum continuous output current per motor is 2.0 A and it can provide a peak current of 6.4 A for less than 1 second.
Features and specifications
- Logic voltage range: 2.8 V to 5.5 V
- Control interface: I²C
- I²C clock speed: up to 400 kHz
- Optional cyclic redundancy checking (CRC)
- Configurable motion parameters:
- Max acceleration/deceleration forward/reverse
- Starting speed forward/reverse
- Direction change delay forward/reverse
- PWM frequency: eight options available from 1 kHz to 80 kHz
- Command timeout feature stops motors if the Arduino stops functioning
- Configurable automatic error response
- Motor power supply (VIN) voltage measurement
- Optional pins make it easy to power the Arduino or Raspberry Pi from reverse-protected motor power, either directly or through an external regulator (not included)
- Two status LEDs
- Motor direction indicator LEDs
- Motoron Arduino library simplifies getting started with an Arduino or compatible controller
- Motoron Python library simplifies getting started with a Raspberry Pi