DriverBlock

Theory

You can't control motors directly from your BrainBlock;
you need a DriverBlock to connect your GoBlocks to your BrainBlock.

This is Dual Motor Driver - it can control 2 motors at the same time.

Each motor needs 2 pins to control it.
This gives 4 possible combinations, we end up with an extra combination, so we have two combinations that both stop the motor.

D9	D10	Motor B	D9	D10
LOW	LOW	Stopped	0	0
LOW	HIGH	Backward	0	1
HIGH	LOW	Forward	1	0
HIGH	HIGH	Stopped	1	1

 

 

 

 

Assembly

1. Materials Required

   
   1 - Flat tile (smooth top) brick 2x2
   1 - Motor Driver Circuit board
   2 - Header pins (2 pins)
2. 
   Solder a pair of 2 pin headers onto the board.
3. 
   Sand the top (smooth) side of the 2x2 brick
   (lightly for 5-10 seconds)
4. 
   Acetone the top (smooth) side of the 2x2 brick
   
5. 
   Actetone the bottom of the DriverBlock circuit board
6. 
   Put a small amount of SuperGlue on the flat top side
7. 
   Glue the 2x2 tile down
   Use the row of little pins at the bottom to keep it straight
8. 
   Press firmly (but not too hard) together for 1 minute.
   Do not wiggle, move, slide any part of the assembly while gluing.
   Wait at least 5 minutes before using it.

 

Connection Diagram

 

Simple On/Off control of Motor A

 

 

Advanced

You can control the speed of the motors using PWM (Pulse Width Modulation),
but PWM only works on Pins 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, or 11
(We have chosen 5&6 and 9&10 by default)

PWM is a number out of 255. Here are a few common values:

%	0%	6%	13%	20%	25%	39%	50%	59%	75%	100%	%
PWM	0	16	32	50	64	100	128	150	192	255	PWM

 

 

You can create your own block for each motor
Speed is a number between -100 and 100
-100 is 100% speed backward
100 is 100% speed forward
0 is Stopped

We need to multiple Speed by 2.55 (100 x 2.55 = 255) to scale it so it works with a percent (0-100)

 

Project Ideas

1. Windmill
2. Merry-go-round
3. Conveyer belt
4. Amusement park ride
5. Ski Lift