TB9051FTG Motor Driver Not Working with ESP32 – Wiring & Code Help

Support Motor controllers/drivers and motors
1

I am using a TB9051FTG single brushed DC motor driver carrier with an ESP32 (3.3 V logic) and am unable to get motor output during basic testing. The board powers on, but the motor does not rotate and I do not observe expected voltage at the motor outputs.

I am using the TB9051FTG Arduino library and testing with a simple forward/reverse PWM sketch. Motor supply is 7.2 V, and connections include PWM, DIR, EN/SLP, GND, VM, and motor outputs.

Could you please confirm the correct wiring for ESP32 and, if possible, share a minimal example code for testing the driver?

2

Hello.

Can you tell us what specific ESP32 development board and power supply you are using and post some pictures of your setup that show all of your connections?

We do not have an example program, and writing an appropriate program to test the TB9051FTG carrier would depend on whether you are setting it up to be controlled with two PWM signals (for drive-brake operation) or one PWM signal (for drive-coast operation). However, if you post the simplest complete program that you tried, I would be happy to check it for you.

- Patrick

1 Like
3

Hello Patrick,

Thank you for your response.

I am using an ESP32-S3 DevKit. The ESP32 is powered via USB, and the motor power supply is a 7.2 V battery.

For initial testing, I am using the TB9051FTG in drive-coast mode (single-PWM control) to keep the setup simple.
For the final robot, I plan to use drive-brake mode (two-PWM control) for better stopping accuracy.

Connections currently used (drive-coast test):

ESP32-S3 GPIO 7 → PWM

ESP32-S3 GPIO 6 → DIR

ESP32-S3 GPIO 5 → EN / SLP (held HIGH)

ESP32-S3 GND → TB9051FTG GND

VIN→ 7.2 V battery

Motor connected to M1 / M2

Below is the minimal test program I am using:

#include <TB9051FTGMotorCarrier.h>

const uint8_t EN_PIN  = 5;
const uint8_t DIR_PIN = 6;
const uint8_t PWM_PIN = 7;

TB9051FTGMotorCarrier motor(EN_PIN, DIR_PIN, PWM_PIN);

void setup() {
  motor.enable();
}

void loop() {
  motor.setOutput(0.5);   // forward
  delay(3000);
  motor.setOutput(0.0);   // coast
  delay(2000);
  motor.setOutput(-0.5);  // reverse
  delay(3000);
}

Please let me know if this wiring and approach look correct for the ESP32-S3, and if there are any recommendations when switching to drive-brake mode later.

4

Is this the library you are using?

If so, please note that we did not write that library, but from a quick inspection, it seems like it does not support operation with just a single PWM signal.

The pin names you listed in your connections list do not match the labels on our board. Can you post some pictures of your physical setup so we can see how everything is connected?

- Patrick