Pololu Dual MAX14870 Motor Driver Shield for Arduino

The Pololu Dual MAX14870 Shield is a simple and inexpensive way to control two small brushed DC motors with an Arduino or Arduino-compatible board. Its two integrated MAX14870 motor drivers operate from 4.5 V to 36 V, making them ideal for high-voltage motors. The shield can drive 1.7 A continuously (2.5 A peak) per motor. It can optionally be configured to power the Arduino from the same power supply as the motor driver. The Arduino pin assignments can be changed (by cutting traces) if the defaults are not suitable.

By default, the shield uses digital pins 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 for the control lines. The shield should be compatible with any board that has a standard Arduino pin layout and the ability to generate PWM signals on pins 9 and 10. Compatible boards include:

• A-Star 32U4 Prime
• Arduino Uno
• Arduino Mega 2560

Features:

• Two single-channel H-bridge motor drivers with shoot-through protection and internal freewheeling diodes (one DC motor each)
• Motor supply voltage: 4.5 V to 36 V
• Output current: 1.7 A continuous (2.5 A peak) per motor
• PWM operation up to 50 kHz (ultrasonic frequencies allow quieter motor operation)
• Simple two-pin DIR / PWM interface (one pin controls direction and another controls speed)
• Shield can optionally power the Arduino base directly if the motor supply voltage is suitable
• The shield has a convenient footprint for adding a 3-pin voltage regulator to power the Arduino base in applications where the motor supply voltage is not suitable for powering the Arduino directly
• The Arduino library makes it easy to get started with this board as a motor driver shield
• Arduino pin assignments can be changed (by cutting traces) if the default assignments are not suitable
• Reverse-voltage protection on the motor power supply
• Undervoltage lockout
• The active-low fault output indicates an overcurrent or overtemperature condition
• Surface-mount resistors can optionally be added to enable automatic current limiting