Isn’t this only if you want to use both the usb and the ext at the same time, to power the motors separately from the board. I was only powering it from the battery, both motors and board.
In the description it says that it accepts input up to 13.2V if I read this correctly, so I thought it would not be a problem.
I could have read it wrong, as it’s split up into sections.
EDIT: I think I did read it wrong, That VSYS goes to U1 which then outputs a regulated 3.3v, which then runs to all the logic etc. I was thinking it might go directly to the Pico’s VSYS, but it doesn’t. ops my bad sorry.
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I suspected they would ;)
Looking are your photos, the issue is your JST-SH cable. Motor 2040 uses straight-through wiring to the MMME’s (aka Pin 1 becomes Pin 6) rather than crossover. Your wire has Pin 1 remain as Pin 1 on both sides.
Using the grey wire as reference, that is the GND from the Motor 2040, but is getting connected to the MOT1 of your motor. This explains why it is not spinning despite the lights showing the driver is working. Here’s pictures of the connectors on the two board.
Where did you get those cables from, or did you make them yourself? Normally I would have suggested getting the cables we sell (6 Pin JST-SH Cable), but I see they are out of stock :( . If you feel confident with tweezers you could rewire one end with the reverse ordering.
How are you connecting the 9V? I don’t see a screw terminal or similar soldered to the power pins.
That is correct. You have no need to worry about providing the board with 9V if you are only having one source connected at a time.
The onboard 3.3V regulator accepts up to 13.2V, but the motor driver itself only goes up to 10V. Both are fine in your case of 9V though.
I contacted the leads of the 9v directly to the pads to see if it would work, when I noticed it didn’t work when powering from usb. It was a temporary thing to test if it was my cable.
The cables were from berrybase, due to them being out of stock here. I will try to reverse them, either with tweezers or soldering, and update. So was the fact that the motors were connected wrong also the cause of the heat? Could the board have been damaged permanently?
It’s quite likely to be the heat cause, yea, as your effectively driving the motor directly from one of the RP2040’s GPIO pins, so there could be a fair amount of current trying to be delivered by that pin, but only at 3V, which would not be enough to visibly see the motor turn.
As to whether this has permanently damaged the boards (both the Motor 2040 and MMME), that’s hard to say. If there does end up being damage, then reach out to support again with the details from this thread and they should be able to set things right.
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Ok, thank you very much. I will try to fix the cable and update with the results.
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Resoldered the cable and tried again. Working as intended, know I only have to find some of the right cables to use the rest of the motors.
Thank you very much!
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That’s great to hear! We should hopefully be getting more cables in a few weeks if you’re willing to wait until then. Otherwise, good luck in your search!
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