Pololu 5019 Motor Driver - One Channel Not Working

Hello,

I’m using an Arduino UNO with the Pololu 5019 motor driver shield to drive Pololu’s 131:1 gear motors (4WD robot - differential config).

However there is an issue with my motor driver, When I run the demo program, only one channel on the driver seems to work (Channel A), the forward and reverse LEDs for channel B turn on and off as they should, however the motors do not turn.

So far I’ve done the following to troubleshoot the issue:

  1. Rechecked connections. (wires, motors, motor driver soldered connections) - they’re all fine.
  2. Checked motors with another driver they all seem to work fine.
  3. Used same wiring config. with another driver, it seems to work fine.

[code]#include “DualVNH5019MotorShield.h”

DualVNH5019MotorShield md;

void stopIfFault()
{
if (md.getM1Fault())
{
Serial.println(“M1 fault”);
while(1);
}
if (md.getM2Fault())
{
Serial.println(“M2 fault”);
while(1);
}
}

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(115200);
Serial.println(“Dual VNH5019 Motor Shield”);
md.init();
}

void loop()
{
for (int i = 0; i <= 400; i++)
{
md.setM1Speed(i);
stopIfFault();
if (i%200 == 100)
{
Serial.print("M1 current: ");
Serial.println(md.getM1CurrentMilliamps());
}
delay(2);
}

for (int i = 400; i >= -400; i–)
{
md.setM1Speed(i);
stopIfFault();
if (i%200 == 100)
{
Serial.print("M1 current: ");
Serial.println(md.getM1CurrentMilliamps());
}
delay(2);
}

for (int i = -400; i <= 0; i++)
{
md.setM1Speed(i);
stopIfFault();
if (i%200 == 100)
{
Serial.print("M1 current: ");
Serial.println(md.getM1CurrentMilliamps());
}
delay(2);
}

for (int i = 0; i <= 400; i++)
{
md.setM2Speed(i);
stopIfFault();
if (i%200 == 100)
{
Serial.print("M2 current: ");
Serial.println(md.getM2CurrentMilliamps());
}
delay(2);
}

for (int i = 400; i >= -400; i–)
{
md.setM2Speed(i);
stopIfFault();
if (i%200 == 100)
{
Serial.print("M2 current: ");
Serial.println(md.getM2CurrentMilliamps());
}
delay(2);
}

for (int i = -400; i <= 0; i++)
{
md.setM2Speed(i);
stopIfFault();
if (i%200 == 100)
{
Serial.print("M2 current: ");
Serial.println(md.getM2CurrentMilliamps());
}
delay(2);
}
}[/code]

Hello.

I am sorry you are having trouble with your dual VNH5019 motor driver shield. Can you tell me more about your setup? How are you supplying power? How much current do you expect your motor to draw? Can you also post a picture that clearly shows your connections?

Also, when you mention you used another driver, do you mean that you tested with another VNH5019 shield, or that you used another completely different driver to test your motors?

-Jon

POWER SETUP:

I’m using two 12V-12AH lead acid batteries in parallel. I’m supplying the 12V directly from my battery pack to the driver, Previously I’ve tested this with a smaller prototype using Pololu’s MC33269 driver.

I have connected two motors per channel, each motor draws around 2 - 2.5 amps when loaded, so I’m drawing a maximum of ~8 - 10 amps.

Rest of the connections are same as depicted in the user’s manual.


When you tested your smaller prototype, were you using our dual MC33926 motor driver shield? If so, were you using the same Arduino Uno in that setup and your current setup?

Also, did the non-working driver channel ever work for you?

-Jon

Yes I was using that driver, I’m using the same wiring setup with the new one. And no, the channel never worked for me.

I had the exact same problem when I first received my VNH5019 motor driver… running the demo code, motor one’s LEDs would light up but no power to the motor. I spent hours trying to figure out what the problem was… in the end I found a similar forum post where the guy ended up re-soldering all the connections… so I re-soldered the 3 blue power connectors (M1A, M1B, GND, VIN, M2A, M2B). This solved the problem for me. I was getting power, but obviously not enough to run motor one… or an intermittent connection problem of sorts.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing, mkaj. Zulkafilabbas, can you attach pictures of the bottom of your shield that clearly show the blue terminal block soldering joints? If you have a multimeter, it would also help if you check for continuity on each those connections.

-Jon

I’ve checked all the soldered joints for continuity, everything seems fine.


[quote=“mkaj”]I had the exact same problem when I first received my VNH5019 motor driver… running the demo code, motor one’s LEDs would light up but no power to the motor. I spent hours trying to figure out what the problem was… in the end I found a similar forum post where the guy ended up re-soldering all the connections… so I re-soldered the 3 blue power connectors (M1A, M1B, GND, VIN, M2A, M2B). This solved the problem for me. I was getting power, but obviously not enough to run motor one… or an intermittent connection problem of sorts.

Hope this helps.[/quote]

I’ll try re soldering it. Thank you. :slight_smile:

Let me know if re-soldering does not change anything. By the way, your picture is blurry, so I cannot assess the quality of your soldering joints.

-Jon