Arduino -Many motor question

[knotian]

My diorama is getting finished up. Now I use a mix of Ev3, a panel of Lego switches and Lego IR for control. Expanding EV# is $$$ out of question, Sbrick is not really an option since nothing freely travels.

Looked at Arduino and the Motor Shield, One key question---how many motors can be controlled with one arduino and MULTIPLE shields? Is that even an option? I'd like to stay with PF

Is there another micro that I should look AT?

By the way I am now at 9 motors and am planning to go well past 20.

[JopieK]

It depends on how you do it. A typical motor driver IC can run two motors. You could use SPI or i2c motor driver units and then control many more. It also depends on what type of motors (DC, Servo, stepper) you want to drive.

See e.g.: https://www.adafruit.com/?q=motor driver

Controlling motors using the Atmega328 happens to be the topic op this weeks lectures to my first year embedded / electrical engineering students :)

[dr_spock]

Could depend on if you are using an Arduino Uno or Mega?   Do you want PWM speed and direction control of the motors and/or simple on/off?

You can also use the arduino to control the PF motors connected to the PF IR receiver. 

[Tommy Styrvoky]

You could use an H bridge motor driver, they only require 3 pins per motor, so with an Arduino mega you could control 17 motors(minus pins for control, unless you plan to automate everything with the Arduino), otherwise, you could get several Arduinos, and have a master/slave system for multiple motor control if needed. then you would need some sort of Bluetooth shield to interface with the Arduino to provide control over a smartphone or other Bluetooth device.

H bridge motor driver for 2 motors  https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14450?_ga=2.116436934.1981718934.1571699770-1975760877.1567875315

( this driver is only rated to 1.2 A but can handle 3.2A for a short period, an XL motor will stall at 1.8A, so it could potentially damage the driver if you are pushing past 1.2A under load)

BLE pinout board https://www.adafruit.com/product/2633

Lego motor specs and current draw http://www.philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Tommy Styrvoky