Hi, I have a Pololu Dual VNH5019 Motor Driver Shield (https://www.pololu.com/product/2507) and a 4wd robot chassis (https://www.pololu.com/product/1567) and I’m wondering how exactly should I connect the motors into the Motor Driver Shield. In the chassis there are two wheels in both sides and each wheel/motor have a red and black wire connections. However the black and red connections in each sides are mounted together so in total there is one red and one black wire connection controlling each side. Should I connect the red and black wires from one side into connections M1A and M1B respectively and from the other sides into M2A and M2B respectively or should the black wires be connected into the ground and only the red ones to be connected into MXA/B connections? I’m also wondering why there are two digital pins MxInA/B in the motor driver shield (when the shield is used as a general purpose driver) controlling each motor M1/M2? Are both of the digital pins for M1/M2 needed when the two motors in each side of the chassis are connected in parallel?
How to wire four wheel differential drive system into pololu Pololu Dual VNH5019 Motor Driver Shield
Hello,
You can connect them like you mentioned with the combined red and black from one side on M1 and the other side motors connected to M2.
The xINA and xINB pins are used to control the direction of the motors when used as a general purpose driver. Driving one of those pins high and the other low makes the motor spin clockwise and reversing those signals changes the direction of the motor. If you are using the driver as a shield, you do not need to use any of the header connections at that end of the board.
-Derrill
Hi, thank you for your answer, that really helped me to solve my problem. I would still like to ask about how to solder the 2-pin, 5mm terminal blocks into the 6 large holes MxA/B, GND and VIN. The holes are somewhat larger than then pins, so should I just use soldering tin as much as necessary to make the pin stand firm or should I bend the pin to “hook” it on the driver before soldering?
Yes, you should completely fill those large holes in with solder; you should not need to bend those terminal block pins. The size of those holes is meant to also accommodate large wires, and the extra solder in those holes will help dissipate heat.
-Derrill
Thank your very much for the answer, this should be clear now.