Pico explorer, motor and additional power

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1

Hi everyone,

I recently “found” a pico explorer on my stuff, likely bought last year but too many projects back then to use it.

Now that I have some spare time, I would like to use it with motors. As I understood here (Pico Explorer Base: compatible motors), the implementation of the motor driver on this board doesn’t allow adding a separated power source for the motors.

I’m trying to make a motor like this one (GERUI Lot de 10 moteurs à engrenages TT DC à double arbre 1:48 - Moteur à engrenages 3-6 V CC 3 V-12 V - Pour robot de voiture intelligent Arduino (moteur TT, version classique) : Amazon.fr: Jeux et Jouets) moving. Without separate power, the 6volts needed are not available and it runs slowly. I once saw someone adding a battery between the positive pin and the motor, which works (tested with 2 AAA) but I’m afraid this could damage either the pico explorer or the pico itself.

Is this dangerous? Is there any way to add power without adding another driver module to the board?

Thank you!

2

I once saw someone adding a battery between the positive pin and the motor

Which pin do you mean by “the positive pin”?

From the schematic, it looks like the Pico’s regulator converts VBUS to 3v3 for most of the components, except the motor driver which runs off VBUS. Attaching more than 5V to VBUS risks damaging the regulator, which the datasheet suggests should be used with 5V +/-10% at most.

I know it isn’t ideal, but you might need a separate motor driver breakout which has external power input.

The other thing to point out is that those motors are geared 1:48, so they’re be a little slower anyway.