Adafruit Motor Shield PDF

Adafruit Motor Shield
Created by lady ada
Last updated on 2018-08-22 03:31:35 PM UTC

Guide Contents
Guide Contents 2
Overview 4
FAQ 6
How many motors can I use with this shield? 6
Can I connect more motors? 6
HELP! My motor doesnt work! - HELP! My motor doesnt work!...But the servos work FINE! 6
What is the LED for? 6
I'm trying to build this robot and it doesn't seem to run on a 9V battery.... 6
Can this shield control small 3V motors? 6
What is the power connector on the shield for? How do I power my motors? 6
My Arduino freaks out when the motors are running! Is the shield broken? 6
I have good solid power supplies, but the DC motors seem to 'cut out' or 'skip'. 6
What if I need more than 600mA per motor? 6
What pins are not used on the motor shield? 6
Which pins are connected to the DC/Stepper motors? 7
Huh? I don't understand... 7
How can I connect to the unused pins? 7
I get the following error trying to run the example code: "error: AFMotor.h: No such file or directory...." 7
How do I install the library? 7
I have two stepper motors and I want to run them simulaneously but the example code can only control one and
then the other? 7
What are some 'suggested motors'? 8
Is the motor shield compatible with the UNO R3 or Mega R3? What about the extra pins? 8
I'm using a 4WD robot platform and I can't get anything to work. 8
But my motor already has a capacitor on it and it still doesn't work. 8
Why don't you just design capacitors into the shield? 8
Make It! 10
Lets go! 10
Preparation 11
Tutorials 11
Tools 11
Parts List 16
Solder It 17
Use It! 34
Library Install 35
First Install the Arduino Library 35
Power Usage 36
Powering your DC motors, voltage and current requirements 36
How to set up the Arduino + Shield for powering motors 36
Using RC Servos 38
Using Stepper Motors 39
Using DC Motors 41
DC motors are used for all sort of robotic projects. 41
AF_DCMotor Class 43
AF_DCMotor motorname(portnum, freq) 43
© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 2 of 51

setSpeed(speed) 44
run(cmd) 44
AF_Stepper Class 46
AF_Stepper steppername(steps, portnumber) 46
step(steps, direction, style) 47
setSpeed(RPMspeed) 47
onestep(direction, stepstyle) 48
release() 48
Resources 49
Motor ideas and tutorials 49
Downloads 50
Schematics & Layout 50
Firmware 50
Forums 51

Overview
This tutorial is for the now ancient V1 Motor shield. Chances are you have a V2, check out the tutorial
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield-v2-for-arduino This tutorial is for historical reference and
previous customers only!
Arduino is a great starting point for electronics, and with a motor shield it can also be a nice tidy platform for robotics
and mechatronics. Here is a design for a full-featured motor shield that will be able to power many simple to medium-
complexity projects.
2 connections for 5V 'hobby' servos connected to the Arduino's high-resolution dedicated timer - no jitter!
Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-bit speed selection (so, about 0.5% resolution)
Up to 2 stepper motors (unipolar or bipolar) with single coil, double coil, interleaved or micro-stepping.
4 H-Bridges: L293D chipset provides 0.6A per bridge (1.2A peak) with thermal shutdown protection, 4.5V to 25V
Pull down resistors keep motors disabled during power-up
Big terminal block connectors to easily hook up wires (10-22AWG) and power
Arduino reset button brought up top
2-pin terminal block to connect external power, for seperate logic/motor supplies
Tested compatible with Mega, Diecimila, & Duemilanove
Full kit available for purchase from the Adafruit shop. (http://adafru.it/81)
Download the easy-to-use Arduino software libraries and you're ready to go! (https://adafru.it/aON)

FAQ
How many motors can I use with this shield?

You can use 2 DC servos that run on 5V and up to 4 DC motors or 2 stepper motors (or 1 stepper and up to 2 DC
motors)
Can I connect more motors?

No, at this time it is not possible to stack the shield or otherwise connect it up easily to control 4 steppers, for
example.
HELP! My motor doesnt work! - HELP! My motor doesnt work!...But the servos work FINE!
Is the LED lit? The Stepper and DC motor connections wont do a single thing if the LED is not lit
Don't bother writing up uploading code or wiring up motors if the LED doesn't light up, its not going to work.
What is the LED for?

The LED indicates the DC/Stepper motor power supply is working. If it is not lit, then the DC/Stepper motors will not
run. The servo ports are 5V powered and does not use the DC motor supply.
I'm trying to build this robot and it doesn't seem to run on a 9V battery....
Please read the user manual for information about appropriate power supplies.
Can this shield control small 3V motors?

Not really, its meant for larger, 6V+ motors. It does not work for 3V motors unless you overdrive them at 6V and
then they will burn out faster
What is the power connector on the shield for? How do I power my motors?
My Arduino freaks out when the motors are running! Is the shield broken?
Motors take a lot of power, and can cause 'brownouts' that reset the Arduino. For that reason the shield is designed
for seperate (split) supplies - one for the electronics and one for the motor. Doing this will prevent brownouts.
I have good solid power supplies, but the DC motors seem to 'cut out' or 'skip'.
Try soldering a ceramic or disc 0.1uF capacitor between the motor tabs (on the motor itself!) this will reduce noise
that could be feeding back into the circuit (thanks macegr!)
What if I need more than 600mA per motor?

You can subsitute SN754410's (at your risk) or piggyback solder some more L293D drivers on top of the existing
ones.
What pins are not used on the motor shield?

All 6 analog input pins are available. They can also be used as digital pins (pins #14 thru 19)
Digital pin 2, and 13 are not used.
The following pins are in use only if the DC/Stepper noted is in use:
Digital pin 11: DC Motor #1 / Stepper #1 (activation/speed control)
The following pins are in use if any DC/steppers are used

Digital pin 4, 7, 8 and 12 are used to drive the DC/Stepper motors via the 74HC595 serial-to-parallel latch
The following pins are used only if that particular servo is in use:
Digitals pin 9: Servo #1 control
Digital pin 10: Servo #2 control
Which pins are connected to the DC/Stepper motors?

The DC/Stepper motors are NOT connected to the Arduino directly. They are connected to the 74HC595 latch
which is spoken to by the Arduino. You CANNOT talk directly to the motors, you MUST use the motor shield library.
Huh? I don't understand...

You can try reading this nice overview written by Michael K
How can I connect to the unused pins?

The analog pins (analog 0-5 also known as digital pins 14-19) are broken out in the bottom right corner.
Pin 2 has a small breakout since its the only truly unused pin
The remaining pins are not broken out because they could be used by the motor shield. If you are sure that you are
not using those pins then you can connect to them by using stacking headers when assembling the kit or soldering
onto the top of the header with wires, or using a "Wing shield"
I get the following error trying to run the example code: "error: AFMotor.h: No such file or directory...."
Make sure you have installed the AFMotor library
How do I install the library?

Read our tutorial on libraries
I have two stepper motors and I want to run them simulaneously but the example code can only control one and
then the other?
The stepper motor library step() routine does not have the ability to run both motors at a time. Instead, you will have
to 'interleave' the calls. For example, to have both motors step forward 100 times you must write code like this:
for (i=0; i<100; i++) {

motor1.step(1, FORWARD, SINGLE);
motor2.step(1, FORWARD, SINGLE);
}
If you want more intelligent control, check out the AccelStepper library (in the Downloads section) which has some

concurrent stepper motor control examples
What are some 'suggested motors'?

Most people buy motors from surplus shops and no motor will make everyone happy
However, since its a popular question, I suggest buying motors from Pololu (DC Servos, DC motors) or Jameco (all
sorts!) As well as the many surplus webshops.
Is the motor shield compatible with the UNO R3 or Mega R3? What about the extra pins?
The motor shield is compatible with the R3 UNO and MEGA. The R3s have 2 extra pins on each header. These are
duplicates of other pins on the header and are not needed by the shield.
I'm using a 4WD robot platform and I can't get anything to work.
The motors used in the 4WD robot platforms from Maker Shed, DF Robotics, Jameco and others have a lot of
"brush noise". This feeds back into the Arduino circuitry and causes unstable operation. This problem can be
solved by soldering 3 noise suppression capacitors to the motor. 1 between the motor terminals, and one from each
terminal to the motor casing.
But my motor already has a capacitor on it and it still doesn't work.

These motors generate a lot of brush noise and usually need the full 3-capacitor treatment for adequate
suppression.
Why don't you just design capacitors into the shield?

They would not be effective there. The noise must be suppressed at the source or the motor leads will act like
antennae and broadcast it to the rest of the system.

Make It!
Lets go!
This is a vey easy kit to make, just go through each of these steps to build the kit
1. Tools and preparation (https://adafru.it/aOv)
2. Check the parts list (https://adafru.it/aOw)
3. Solder it (https://adafru.it/aOx)

Preparation
Tutorials
Learn how to solder with tons of tutorials! (https://adafru.it/aOm)
(https://adafru.it/aOm)
Don't forget to learn how to use your multimeter too! (https://adafru.it/aOy)
Tools
There are a few tools that are required for assembly. None of these tools are included. If you don't have them, now
would be a good time to borrow or purchase them. They are very very handy whenever assembling/fixing/modifying
electronic devices! I provide links to buy them, but of course, you should get them where ever is most
convenient/inexpensive. Many of these parts are available in a place like Radio Shack or other (higher quality) DIY
electronics stores.

Soldering iron
Any entry level 'all-in-one' soldering iron that you might

find at your local hardware store should work. As with
most things in life, you get what you pay for.
Upgrading to a higher end soldering iron setup, like the

Hakko FX-888 that we stock in our
store (http://adafru.it/180), will make soldering fun and
easy.
Do not use a "ColdHeat" soldering iron! They are not

suitable for delicate electronics work and can damage
the kit (see here (https://adafru.it/aOo)).
Click here to buy our entry level adjustable 30W 110V

soldering iron. (http://adafru.it/180)
Click here to upgrade to a Genuine Hakko FX-888

adjustable temperature soldering
iron. (http://adafru.it/303)

Solder
You will want rosin core, 60/40 solder. Good solder is a

good thing. Bad solder leads to bridging and cold solder
joints which can be tough to find.
Click here to buy a spool of leaded solder

(recommended for beginners). (http://adafru.it/145)
Click here to buy a spool of lead-free

solder. (http://adafru.it/734)

Multimeter
You will need a good quality basic multimeter that can

measure voltage and continuity.
Click here to buy a basic multimeter. (http://adafru.it/71)
Click here to buy a top of the line

multimeter. (http://adafru.it/308)
Click here to buy a pocket

multimeter. (http://adafru.it/850)

Flush Diagonal Cutters
You will need flush diagonal cutters to trim the wires

and leads off of components once you have soldered
them in place.
Click here to buy our favorite

cutters. (http://adafru.it/152)
Solder Sucker
Strangely enough, that's the technical term for this

desoldering vacuum tool. Useful in cleaning up
mistakes, every electrical engineer has one of these on
their desk.
Click here to buy a one. (http://adafru.it/148)

Helping Third Hand With Magnifier
Not absolutely necessary but will make things go much

much faster, and it will make soldering much easier.
Pick one up here. (http://adafru.it/291)

Parts List
Image Name Description Distributor Qty
PCB Printed Circuit Board Adafruit 1

L293D
Dual H-bridge
IC1, IC2 L293D 2
*See note on usage page for
replacing with SN754410
74HC595N
IC3 74HC595N 1
Serial to parallel output latch
16 pin sockets (OPTIONAL!)
IC1' and IC2' These are included in kits as of July Generic 2

2010
3mm LED, any color

LED1 3mm LED 1
Motor power indicator
R1 1.5K resistor for LED1 1/4W 5% resistor 1

10K pulldown resistor
R2 1/4W 5% resistor 1
Brown, Black, Orange, Gold
10-pin bussed 10K-100K resistor
RN1 100K resistor network 1
network
C2, C4, C6 0.1uF ceramic capacitor Generic 3
C1, C3, C5 100uF / 6V capacitor (or bigger) 100uF/6V cap 3
C7, C8 47uF / 25V capacitor (or bigger) 47uF/25V cap 2
5-position 3.5mm terminal block
X1 3.5mm terminals 2
(Or a 3-position and a 2-position)
X2 2-position 3.5mm terminal block 3.5mm terminals 1

RESET 6mm tactile switch 6mm tact switch 1
PWR Jumper/shunt 0.1" jumper 1
36 pin male header (1x36) Generic 1

Solder It
First, check that you have all the parts! Look over the
parts list here (https://adafru.it/aOw) and shown on the
left.
Also check to make sure you have the necessary tools

for assembly. (https://adafru.it/aOv)
Place the motor shield PCB in a vise or other circuit-

board holder and turn on your soldering iron to 700
degrees.
The first parts to go in are the two resistors, R1 (Brown

Green Red Gold) and R2 (Brown Black Orange Gold).
Bend the resistors so that they look like staples, as seen
in this photo.

Next, slip the resistors into the PCB as shown, so that
they sit flat against the circuit board. Bend the wire legs
out a bit so that when the board is flipped over
Resistors are not polarized, that means you can put

them in "either way" and they'll work just fine.
Using your soldering iron tip, heat the resistor wire lead
and the metal ring (pad) at the same time, after a few
seconds, poke a little solder in so that it melts into a
nice cone. Remove the solder and then remove the
soldering iron. Do this for all 4 wires.
Check your work, you should have clean solder joints.

Clip the long leads, just above the solder joint using
diagonal cutters.

Next place the three yellow ceramic
capacitors C4, C2 andC6. Ceramic capacitors are not
polarized so you can put them in "either way" and they
work fine.
Bend the leads out just like you did with the resistors.
Solder all 6 wires, then clip them as you did with the
resistors.

Next is the 6mm tactile switchRESET and the resistor
networkRN1. The tact switch is used to reset the
Arduino since its not possible to reach the reset button
once the motor shield is on.
The resistor network is used topull-down the pins on the

motor driver chips so that they don't power up the
motors before the Arduino sketch tells them to.
The tactile switch can go in 'either way'. The resistor

network, however, must go in a certain way. Make sure
the end with a dot is posititioned so it is at the same end
as the X in the silkscreened image of the resistor
network. (See picture on left).
Flip the board over and solder in the resistor network

and switch. You won't need to clip the leads as they are
quite short aleady.

Next are the three integrated circuits (ICs) IC1,
IC2 and IC3. When ICs come from the factory, the legs
are angled out somewhat which makes it difficult to
insert them into the PCB. Prepare them for soldering by
gently bending the legs against a flat tabletop so that
they are perfectly straight.
The latest kits from Adafruit come with 2 16-pin sockets

for the L293D motor drivers. They are OPTIONAL and
not necessary for operation.
If you are not experienced with driving motors ( your

likelyhood of wiring up a mis-specified motor is high)
you should install these so if the L293Ds are destroyed
you can easily replace them
If you are experienced with driving motors, you may

want to skip the sockets as the decrease the chips'
heat-sinking abilities.

ICs must be placed in the correct orientation to work
properly. To help with placement, each chip has a U
notch at the top of the chip. On the circuit board there is
a printed out image of the chip outline and one end has
a U notch. Make sure the chip notch is on the same end
as the image notch. In this PCB, all are facing the same
way.
Gently insert the three chips. Check to make sure none

of the legs got bent or broken.
The 74HC595 goes in the middle, and the two L293Ds

go on either side.
Solder each pin of the chips.
The four 'middle' pins of the L293D motor driver chips

are tied to a large heat sink and thus may end up
getting 'bridged' with solder as shown in the second
image.

Next are the three 100uF electrolytic
capacitors C1, C3and C5. Electrolytic capacitors are
polarized and must be placed in the correct orientation
or they could pop! The long leg of the capacitor is the
positive (+) leg and goes into the hole marked with a +.
The close-up images shown here indicate with hole is
the + one.
Capacitors are not color-coded. The body color can vary

from blue to violet to green to black sobe sure to read
the value on the side, don't depend on the color!

After double-checking their polarity, solder and clip the
three capacitors.

Place the two 47uF remaining electrolytic
capacitors, C7 andC8
These are also polarized so make sure the long lead is

inserted into the + hole in the silkscreened image.
Capacitors are not color-coded. The body color can vary

from blue to violet to green to black sobe sure to read
the value on the side, don't depend on the color!

Solder and clip the two capacitors.

Next is the 3mm LED used to indicate motor power.
LEDs are polarized, just like capacitors, and the long
lead is the positive (+) lead.
Make sure the LED is placed correctly otherwise it wont

work!

Solder and clip the LED leads.

Next its time to make the headers for the jumper, servos
and arduino.
We use one stick of 36-pin 'breakaway' header, and

break it apart to make smaller strips. You can use
diagonal cutters or pliers to snap off the pieces.
Break the 36-pin header into 2 8-pin, 2 6-pin, 2 3-pin

and 1 2-pin headers.
If you have an NG arduino, you may want 1 6-pin header

and 1 4-pin header instead of 2 6-pin headers.

The 2 3-pin pieces go in the servo connections in the
top left corner. The 2-pin piece goes in the PWR jumper
in the bottom center.
Also, place the 3 large screw terminals for the motor and
external motor-power wires. If you received only 2 and
3-position terminal blocks, slide them together so that
you have 2 5-position terminals and 1 2-position
terminal.
Solder in the 3 pieces of header and the three terminal

blocks.

Next, place the 8-pin and 6-pin headers into the Arduino
board. This will make sure that the headers are perfectly
lined up. Make sure the Arduino is not plugged in or
powered!
Place the motor shield on top of the Arduino, making

sure that all the header lines up.

Solder in each pin of the header.
You're done!
Now go read the user manual. (https://adafru.it/aOz)

Use It!
The Adafruit Motor Shield kit is a great motor controller for Arduino, but it does a little care to make sure it's used
correctly. Please read through all the User manual sections at left, especially the section about library installation and
power requirements!

Library Install
First Install the Arduino Library

Before you can use the Motor shield, you must install the AF_Motor Arduino library - this will instruct the Arduino how
to talk to the Adafruit Motor shield, and it isn't optional!
1. First, grab the library from github (https://adafru.it/aOA)
2. Uncompress the ZIP file onto your desktop
3. Rename the uncompressed folder AFMotor
4. Check that inside AFMotor is AFMotor.cpp and AFMotor.h files. If not, check the steps above
5. Place the AFMotor folder into your arduinosketchfolder/libraries folder. For Windows, this will probably be
something like MY Documents/Arduino/libraries for Mac it will be something likeDocuments/arduino/libraries. If
this is the first time you are installing a library, you'll need to create the libraries folder. Make sure to call it
libraries exactly, no caps, no other name.
6. Check that inside the libraries folder there is the AFMotor folder, and inside AFMotor isAFMotor.cpp AFMotor.h
and some other files
7. Quit and restart the IDE. You should now have a submenu called File->Examples->AFMotor->MotorParty

Power Usage
Powering your DC motors, voltage and current requirements

Motors need a lot of energy, especially cheap motors since they're less efficient. The first important thing to figure out
what voltage the motor is going to use. If you're lucky your motor came with some sort of specifications. Some small
hobby motors are only intended to run at 1.5V, but its just as common to have 6-12V motors. The motor controllers on
this shield are designed to run from 4.5V to 25V.
MOST 1.5-3V MOTORS WILL NOT WORK
Current requirements: The second thing to figure out is how much current your motor will need. The motor driver chips
that come with the kit are designed to provide up to 600 mA per motor, with 1.2A peak current. Note that once you
head towards 1A you'll probably want to put a heatsink on the motor driver, otherwise you will get thermal failure,
possibly burning out the chip.
On using the SN754410: Some people use the SN754410 (https://adafru.it/aOB) motor driver chip because it is pin-
compatible, has output diodes and can provide 1A per motor, 2A peak. After careful reading of the datasheet and
discussion with TI tech support and power engineers it appears that the output diodes were designed for ESD
protection only and that using them as kickback-protection is a hack and not guaranteed for performance. For that
reason the kit does not come with the SN754410 and instead uses the L293D with integrated kickback-protection
diodes. If you're willing to risk it, and need the extra currrent, feel free to buy SN754410's and replace the provided
chips.
Need more power? Buy another set of L293D drivers and solder them right on top of the ones on the board
(piggyback) (https://adafru.it/aOC). Voila, double the current capability! You can solder 2 more chips on top before it
probably isnt going to get you much benefit
You can't run motors off of a 9V battery so don't even waste your time/batteries! Use a big Lead Acid or NiMH battery
pack. Its also very much suggested that you set up two power supplies (split supply) one for the Arduino and one for
the motors. 99% of 'weird motor problems' are due to noise on the power line from sharing power supplies and/or not
having a powerful enough supply!
How to set up the Arduino + Shield for powering motors

Servos are powered off of the same regulated 5V that the Arduino uses. This is OK for the small hobby servos
suggested. If you want something beefier, cut the trace going to + on the servo connectors and wire up your own 5-6V
supply!
The DC motors are powered off of a 'high voltage supply' and NOT the regulated 5V. Don't connect the motor power
supply to the 5V line. This is a very very very bad idea unless you are sure you know what you're doing!
There are two places you can get your motor 'high voltage supply' from. One is the DC jack on the Arduino board and
the other is the 2-terminal block on the shield that is labeled EXT_PWR. The DC Jack on the Arduino has a protection
diode so you won't be able to mess things up too bad if you plug in the wrong kind of power. However the EXT_PWR
terminals on the shield do not have a protection diode (for a fairly good reason). Be utterly careful not to plug it in
backwards or you will destroy the motor shield and/or your Arduino!
Here's how it works:

If you would like to have a single DC power supply for the Arduino and motors, simply plug it into the DC jack on the
Arduino or the 2-pin PWR_EXT block on the shield. Place the power jumper on the motor shield.
If you have a Diecimila Arduino, set the Arduino power source jumper to EXT.
Note that you may have problems with Arduino resets if the battery supply is not able to provide constant power, and it
is not a suggested way of powering your motor project
If you would like to have the Arduino powered off of USB and the motors powered off of a DC power supply, plug in
the USB cable. Then connect the motor supply to the PWR_EXT block on the shield. Do not place the jumper on the
shield. This is a suggested method of powering your motor project
(If you have a Diecimila Arduino, don't forget to set the Arduino power jumper to USB. If you have a Diecimila, you can
alternately do the following: plug the DC power supply into the Arduino, and place the jumper on the motor shield.)
If you would like to have 2 seperate DC power supplies for the Arduino and motors. Plug in the supply for the Arduino
into the DC jack, and connect the motor supply to the PWR_EXT block. Make sure the jumper is removed from the
motor shield.
If you have a Diecimila Arduino, set the Arduino jumper to EXT. This is a suggested method of powering your motor
project
Either way, if you want to use the DC motor/Stepper system the motor shield LED should be lit indicating good motor
power

Using RC Servos
Hobby servos are the easiest way to get going with motor control. They have a 3-pin 0.1" female header connection
with +5V, ground and signal inputs. The motor shield simply brings out the 16bit PWM output lines to two 3-pin headers
so that its easy to plug in and go. They can take a lot of power so a 9V battery wont last more than a few minutes!
The nice thing about using the onboard PWM is that its very precise and goes about its business in the background.
You can use the built in Servo library
Using the servos is easy, please read the official Arduino documentation for how to use them and see the example
Servo sketches in the IDE (https://adafru.it/aOD).
Power for the Servos comes from the Arduino's on-board 5V regulator, powered directly from the USB or DC power
jack on the Arduino. If you need an external supply, cut the trace right below the servo pins (on v1.2 boards) and
connect a 5V or 6V DC supply directly. Using an external supply is for advanced users as you can accidentally destroy
the servos by connecting a power supply incorrectly!
When using the external supply header for servos, take care that the bottom of the header pins do not
contact the metal USB port housing on the Arduino. A piece of electrical tape on the housing will protect
against shorts.

Using Stepper Motors
Stepper motors are great for (semi-)precise control, perfect for many robot and CNC projects. This motor shield
supports up to 2 stepper motors. The library works identically for bi-polar and uni-polar motors
For unipolar motors: to connect up the stepper, first figure out which pins connected to which coil, and which pins are
the center taps. If its a 5-wire motor then there will be 1 that is the center tap for both coils. Theres plenty of tutorials
online on how to reverse engineer the coils pinout. (https://adafru.it/aOO) The center taps should both be connected
together to the GND terminal on the motor shield output block. then coil 1 should connect to one motor port (say M1 or
M3) and coil 2 should connect to the other motor port (M2 or M4).
For bipolar motors: its just like unipolar motors except theres no 5th wire to connect to ground. The code is exactly the
same.
Running a stepper is a little more intricate than running a DC motor but its still very easy
1. Make sure you #include <AFMotor.h>
2. Create the stepper motor object with AF_Stepper(steps, stepper#) to setup the motor H-bridge and latches.
Steps indicates how many steps per revolution the motor has. a 7.5degree/step motor has 360/7.5 = 48 steps.
Stepper# is which port it is connected to. If you're using M1 and M2, its port 1. If you're using M3 and M4 it's port 2
3. Set the speed of the motor using setSpeed(rpm) where rpm is how many revolutions per minute you want the
stepper to turn.
4. Then every time you want the motor to move, call the step(#steps, direction, steptype) procedure.#steps is how
many steps you'd like it to take. direction is either FORWARD or BACKWARD and the step type is SINGLE,

DOUBLE. INTERLEAVE or MICROSTEP.
"Single" means single-coil activation, "double" means 2 coils are activated at once (for higher torque) and
"interleave" means that it alternates between single and double to get twice the resolution (but of course its half
the speed). "Microstepping" is a method where the coils are PWM'd to create smooth motion between steps.
Theres tons of information about the pros and cons of these different stepping methods in the resources
page. (https://adafru.it/aOO)
You can use whichever stepping method you want, changing it "on the fly" to as you may want minimum power,
more torque, or more precision.
5. By default, the motor will 'hold' the position after its done stepping. If you want to release all the coils, so that it
can spin freely, call release()
6. The stepping commands are 'blocking' and will return once the steps have finished.
Because the stepping commands 'block' - you have to instruct the Stepper motors each time you want them to move. If
you want to have more of a 'background task' stepper control, check out AccelStepper library (https://adafru.it/aOL)
(install similarly to how you did with AFMotor) which has some examples for controlling two steppers simultaneously
with varying accelleration
#include <AFMotor.h>
AF_Stepper motor(48, 2);
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600); // set up Serial library at 9600 bps
Serial.println("Stepper test!");
motor.setSpeed(10); // 10 rpm
motor.step(100, FORWARD, SINGLE);

motor.release();
delay(1000);
}
void loop() {
motor.step(100, FORWARD, SINGLE);
motor.step(100, BACKWARD, SINGLE);
motor.step(100, FORWARD, DOUBLE);

motor.step(100, BACKWARD, DOUBLE);
motor.step(100, FORWARD, INTERLEAVE);

motor.step(100, BACKWARD, INTERLEAVE);
motor.step(100, FORWARD, MICROSTEP);

motor.step(100, BACKWARD, MICROSTEP);
}

Using DC Motors
DC motors are used for all sort of robotic projects.

The motor shield can drive up to 4 DC motors bi-directionally. That means they can be driven forwards and backwards.
The speed can also be varied at 0.5% increments using the high-quality built in PWM. This means the speed is very
smooth and won't vary!
Note that the H-bridge chip is not meant for driving loads over 0.6A or that peak over 1.2A so this is for small motors.
Check the datasheet for information about the motor to verify its OK.
To connect a motor, simply solder two wires to the terminals and then connect them to either the M1, M2, M3, or M4.
Then follow these steps in your sketch
1. Make sure you #include <AFMotor.h>

2. Create the AF_DCMotor object with AF_DCMotor(motor#, frequency), to setup the motor H-bridge and latches.
The constructor takes two arguments.
The first is which port the motor is connected to, 1, 2, 3 or 4.
frequency is how fast the speed controlling signal is.
For motors 1 and 2 you can choose MOTOR12_64KHZ, MOTOR12_8KHZ, MOTOR12_2KHZ, orMOTOR12_1KHZ.
A high speed like 64KHz wont be audible but a low speed like 1KHz will use less power. Motors 3 & 4 are only
possible to run at 1KHz and will ignore any setting given
3. Then you can set the speed of the motor using setSpeed(speed) where the speed ranges from 0 (stopped) to
255 (full speed). You can set the speed whenever you want.

4. To run the motor, call run(direction) where direction is FORWARD, BACKWARD or RELEASE. Of course, the
Arduino doesn't actually know if the motor is 'forward' or 'backward', so if you want to change which way it thinks
is forward, simply swap the two wires from the motor to the shield.
AF_DCMotor motor(2, MOTOR12_64KHZ); // create motor #2, 64KHz pwm
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600); // set up Serial library at 9600 bps
Serial.println("Motor test!");
motor.setSpeed(200); // set the speed to 200/255

}
void loop() {
Serial.print("tick");
motor.run(FORWARD); // turn it on going forward

delay(1000);
Serial.print("tock");
motor.run(BACKWARD); // the other way
delay(1000);
Serial.print("tack");
motor.run(RELEASE); // stopped
delay(1000);
}

AF_DCMotor Class
The AF_DCMotor class provides speed and direction control for up to four DC motors when used with the Adafruit
Motor Shield. To use this in a sketch you must first add the following line at the beginning of your sketch:
AF_DCMotor motorname(portnum, freq)

This is the constructor for a DC motor. Call this constructor once for each motor in your sketch. Each motor
instance must have a different name as in the example below.
Parameters:
port num - selects which channel (1-4) of the motor controller the motor will be connected to
freq - selects the PWM frequency. If no frequency is specified, 1KHz is used by default.
Frequencies for channel 1 & 2 are:
MOTOR12_64KHZ
MOTOR12_8KHZ
MOTOR12_2KHZ
MOTOR12_1KHZ
Frequencies for channel 3 & 4 are:
MOTOR34_64KHZ

MOTOR34_8KHZ
MOTOR34_1KHZ
Example:
AF_DCMotor motor4(4); // define motor on channel 4 with 1KHz default PWM

AF_DCMotor left_motor(1, MOTOR12_64KHZ); // define motor on channel 1 with 64KHz PWM
Note: Higher frequencies will produce less audible hum in operation, but may result in lower torque with some
motors.
setSpeed(speed)
Sets the speed of the motor.
Parameters:
speed- Valid values for 'speed' are between 0 and 255 with 0 being off and 255 as full throttle.
Example:
Note: DC Motor response is not typically linear, and so the actual RPM will not necessarily be proportional to the
programmed speed.
run(cmd)
Sets the run-mode of the motor.
Parameters:

cmd - the desired run mode for the motor
Valid values for cmd are:

FORWARD - run forward (actual direction of rotation will depend on motor wiring)
BACKWARD - run backwards (rotation will be in the opposite direction from FORWARD)
RELEASE - Stop the motor. This removes power from the motor and is equivalent to setSpeed(0). The
motor shield does not implement dynamic breaking, so the motor may take some time to spin down
Example:
motor.run(FORWARD);
delay(1000); // run forward for 1 second
motor.run(RELEASE);
delay(100); // 'coast' for 1/10 second
motor.run(BACKWARDS); // run in reverse

AF_Stepper Class
The AF_Stepper class provides single and multi-step control for up to 2 stepper motors when used with the Adafruit
Motor Shield. To use this in a sketch you must first add the following line at the beginning of your sketch:
AF_Stepper steppername(steps, portnumber)

The AF_Stepper constructor defines a stepper motor. Call this once for each stepper motor in your sketch. Each
stepper motor instance must have a unique name as in the example below.
Parameters:
steps - declare the number of steps per revolution for your motor.
num - declare how the motor will be wired to the shield.
Valid values for 'num' are 1 (channels 1 & 2) and 2 (channels 3 & 4).
Example:

AF_Stepper Stepper1(48, 1); // A 48-step-per-revolution motor on channels 1 & 2
AF_Stepper Stepper2(200, 2); // A 200-step-per-revolution motor on channels 3 & 4
step(steps, direction, style)

Step the motor.
Parameters:
steps - the number of steps to turn

direction - the direction of rotation (FORWARD or BACKWARD)
style - the style of stepping:
Valid values for 'style' are:
SINGLE - One coil is energized at a time.

DOUBLE - Two coils are energized at a time for more torque.
INTERLEAVE - Alternate between single and double to create a half-step in between. This can result in
smoother operation, but because of the extra half-step, the speed is reduced by half too.
MICROSTEP - Adjacent coils are ramped up and down to create a number of 'micro-steps' between each
full step. This results in finer resolution and smoother rotation, but with a loss in torque.
Note: Step is a synchronous command and will not return until all steps have completed. For concurrent motion of two
motors, you must handle the step timing for both motors and use the "onestep()" function below.
Stepper1.step(100, FORWARD, DOUBLE); // 100 steps forward using double coil stepping
Stepper2.step(100, BACKWARD, MICROSTEP); // 100 steps backward using double microstepping
setSpeed(RPMspeed)

set the speed of the motor
Parameters:
Speed - the speed in RPM
Note: The resulting step speed is based on the 'steps' parameter in the constructor. If this does not match the number
of steps for your motor, you actual speed will be off as well.
Example:
Stepper1.setSpeed(10); // Set motor 1 speed to 10 rpm

Stepper2.setSpeed(30); // Set motor 2 speed to 30 rpm
onestep(direction, stepstyle)
Single step the motor.
Parameters:
direction - the direction of rotation (FORWARD or BACKWARD)

stepstyle - the style of stepping:
Valid values for 'style' are:
SINGLE - One coil is energized at a time.

DOUBLE - Two coils are energized at a time for more torque.
INTERLEAVE - Alternate between single and double to create a half-step in between. This can result in
smoother operation, but because of the extra half-step, the speed is reduced by half too.
MICROSTEP - Adjacent coils are ramped up and down to create a number of 'micro-steps' between each
full step. This results in finer resolution and smoother rotation, but with a loss in torque.
Example:
Stepper1.onestep(FORWARD, DOUBLE); // take one step forward using double coil stepping
release()
Release the holding torque on the motor. This reduces heating and current demand, but the motor will not actively
resist rotation.
Example:
Stepper1.release(); // stop rotation and turn off holding torque.
© Adafruit Industries Last Updated: 2018-08-22 03:31:30 PM UTC Page 51 of 51

Resources
Motor ideas and tutorials
Wikipedia has tons of information (https://adafru.it/aOF) on steppers
Jones on stepper motor types (https://adafru.it/aOH)
Jason on reverse engineering the stepper wire pinouts (https://adafru.it/aOI)
Downloads
Schematics & Layout

You can grab the latest Schematic, Layout files (EagleCAD format from github. Click the ZIP download button at top
middle to download the entire zip. (https://adafru.it/aOJ)
Firmware
Arduino Stepper/Servo software library with microstepping support (https://adafru.it/aOK).
To install, click on Downloads in the middle of the page, select Download as zip and uncompress the folder.
Rename the folder to AFmotor (check that the renamed folder contains the .cpp and .h files) and install into the
Arduinosketches/libraries folder. For information how to use and install libraries, see our
tutorial (https://adafru.it/aYG)! This version now works with with the Mega. Public domain!
AccelStepper library (https://adafru.it/aOL) with AFMotor support. This library allows for advanced stepper control
including accelleration and decelleration, and concurrent stepper control! You still need AFmotor above!
To install, click on Download in the middle of the page, select Download as zip and uncompress the folder.
Rename the folder to AccelStepper (check that the renamed folder contains the .cpp and .h files) and install into
the Arduinosketches/libraries folder. For information how to use and install libraries, see our
tutorial (https://adafru.it/aYG)!
Forums
Forums (https://adafru.it/aOM)

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© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 2 of 51

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 3 of 51

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 4 of 51

How many motors can I use with this shield?

Can I connect more motors?

What is the LED for?

Can this shield control small 3V motors?

What if I need more than 600mA per motor?

What pins are not used on the motor shield?

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 6 of 51

Digital pin 2, and 13 are not used.

The following pins are in use if any DC/steppers are used

Which pins are connected to the DC/Stepper motors?

Huh? I don't understand...

How can I connect to the unused pins?

How do I install the library?

for (i=0; i<100; i++) {

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 7 of 51

What are some 'suggested motors'?

But my motor already has a capacitor on it and it still doesn't work.

Why don't you just design capacitors into the shield?

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 8 of 51

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 10 of 51

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 11 of 51

Any entry level 'all-in-one' soldering iron that you might

Upgrading to a higher end soldering iron setup, like the

Do not use a "ColdHeat" soldering iron! They are not

Click here to buy our entry level adjustable 30W 110V

Click here to upgrade to a Genuine Hakko FX-888

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 12 of 51

You will want rosin core, 60/40 solder. Good solder is a

Click here to buy a spool of leaded solder

Click here to buy a spool of lead-free

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 13 of 51

You will need a good quality basic multimeter that can

Click here to buy a basic multimeter. (http://adafru.it/71)

Click here to buy a top of the line

Click here to buy a pocket

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 14 of 51

You will need flush diagonal cutters to trim the wires

Click here to buy our favorite

Strangely enough, that's the technical term for this

Click here to buy a one. (http://adafru.it/148)

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 15 of 51

Not absolutely necessary but will make things go much

Pick one up here. (http://adafru.it/291)

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 16 of 51

Image Name Description Distributor Qty

PCB Printed Circuit Board Adafruit 1

IC1' and IC2' These are included in kits as of July Generic 2

3mm LED, any color

R1 1.5K resistor for LED1 1/4W 5% resistor 1

X2 2-position 3.5mm terminal block 3.5mm terminals 1

© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield Page 17 of 51

Also check to make sure you have the necessary tools

Place the motor shield PCB in a vise or other circuit-