I bought one of your Pololu RC Switch with Digital Output (rcs01a).
I want to turn ON/OFF a small electric motor on my Drone with one of the channels of my RC Receiver.
The image shows everything i am using and how its connected.
I am connecting the Receiver pins on one side of the Switch. I am using a 3.7V 350mAh battery to drive the motor on the other side.
I am connecting the ground to the GND and one of the pins of the motor. The positive side of the battery is connected to VCC port of the Switch board.
I am connecting the OUT to the other pin of the motor. I can measure 3.7V between GND and VCC and also between GND and OUT if i turn ON the Transmitter signal.
It seems that its working but the motor wont spin no matter what i am doing. It seems that the amperage is lower on the OUT port of the Switch board than on VCC.
Any idea what am I doing wrong?
Hello.
How much current does your motor draw? A digital output is not likely to be provide enough current to power your motor. You might look into using our RC Switch with Small Low-Side MOSFET.
–David
The motor info:
Support Voltage 3V to 6V DC
No Loading :
3V Current :0.14A locked - rotor current is 0.92A
6V Current :0.18A locked - rotor current is 1.5A
Is this too much for this switch?
I bought the “Pololu RC Switch with Small Low-Side MOSFET” just in case.
I am not sure which pin to use though. Can you explain where to connect my motor?
Thx
Yes, your motor is not appropriate for driving directly with a digital output.
To connect your motor to the RC switch with small low-side MOSFET, you should refer to the typical wiring diagram on its product page and also the user’s guide which can be found in its resources tab. The load referred to in the documentation would be your motor.
However, if your board says “rcs02a” on it then you have our older switch which has separate documentation.
–David
I ordered two of the Pololu RC Switch with Small Low-Side MOSFET (my board says rcs02c)
pololu.com/product/1210
I attached a picture so you see my connection. What am I doing wrong , it’s still doesn’t switch the motor on and I cant really measure anything happening on the load ports only on the GOOD and OUT ports.
Hello.
The link you posted is to the older switch, rcs02a. Since you have rcs02c you should be referring to the contents of this page, including its Resources tab:
Thanks for the clear picture. It looks like you are not supplying power to the board’s VCC pin and that could explain your trouble. I recommend looking at the board’s indicator LED while troubleshooting and including information about the LED when you are writing about the problem.
–David
Thank you, I got it working. I am powering the board with the servo cable. I connected VRC to VCC and the two GRN pins on the bottom of the board. Thanks for the help.
Awesome resources for your products in this forum… This may be a simple question but I am wondering if with a setup such as this using your MOSFET rc switch is it possible to control the motor to rotate forward and reverse if connected to a 3 position channel on the controller? With the motor off in 0 center position.
Thanks
GrumpyG
Hello.
You will probably not be able to achieve bidirectional control of a motor using the RC switch with small low-side MOSFET. You might consider using a controller like our Simple Motor Controller for applications where you need bidirectional control.
- Grant