The table below sums up activity, with S1-S4 corresponding to the diagram above: S1 S2 S3 S4 Result 1 0 0 1 Motor turn right 0 1 1 0 Motor turn left 0 0 0 0 This causes the motor to stop instantly as the motor’s terminals are shorted, or to let the motor ‘free rush’ to a stop (coasts), as the motor is viably separated from the circuit. However, it can also be utilized to ‘brake’ the motor. The H-bridge configuration is commonly used to switch the direction of the motor. This causes anticlockwise rotation of the motor. When S2, S3 are ON and S1, S4 are OFF, the right side of the motor terminal is more +ve than the left terminal. This causes the clockwise rotation of the motor. When S1 and S4 are ON and S2 and S3 are OFF, the left side of the motor terminal is more +ve than the other terminal. What is an L298N Motor Driver?Ĭhange in the direction of rotation of motor using h-bridge And to supply the voltage/current required to operate the motor, an external supply is connected to the motor driver module. We bridge the gap between the Arduino and motor by introducing a motor driver.

To solve this problem, the use of a motor driver is essential. Hence the output of Arduino is not enough to power up the motors. Also, the output current limit of Arduino is relatively very low. But a decent DC motor needs at least 5V or 12V. For instance, the Arduino or PIC microcontroller can output a maximum voltage of 5V or 3.3V. Why do we need a motor driver module?Īll microcontrollers operate on low-level voltage/current signals, unlike motors. The IC alone can control the DC motor, but using the module makes interfacing with Arduino easy.

The motor driver module consists of a motor driver IC, which is the heart of the module. To put it in simple words, you can control the direction of DC motors by giving appropriate logic to the motor driver module. This input logic controls the direction of DC motors connected to the driver. A motor driver module takes the low voltage input from a controller like Arduino. It is commonly used in autonomous robots and RC cars (L298N and L293D are the most regularly utilized motor driver chips). A motor driver module is a simple circuit used for controlling a DC motor.

L298n motor driver arduino fritzing