Datasheet

The Arduino Motor Shield is based on the

L298 (datasheet), which is a dual full-bridge

driver designed to drive inductive loads such

as relays, solenoids, DC and stepping motors.

It lets you drive two DC motors with your

Arduino board, controlling the speed and

direction of each one independently. You can

also measure the motor current absorption of

each motor, among other features. The shield

is TinkerKit compatible, which means you can

quickly create projects by plugging TinkerKit

modules to the board.

Operating Voltage

5V to 12V

Motor controller

L298P, Drives 2 DC motors or 1 stepper motor

Max current

2A per channel or 4A max (with external power supply)

Current sensing

1.65V/A

Free running stop and brake function

EAGLE files: arduino_MotorShield_Rev3-reference-design.zip

Schematic: arduino_MotorShield_Rev3-schematic.pdf

The Arduino Motor Shield must be powered only by an external power supply. Because the

L298 IC mounted on the shield has two separate power connections, one for the logic and

one for the motor supply driver. The required motor current often exceeds the maximum

USB current rating.

External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-wart) or battery.

The adapter can be connected by plugging a 2.1mm center-positive plug into the Arduino's

board power jack on which the motor shield is mounted or by connecting the wires that lead

the power supply to the Vin and GND screw terminals, taking care to respect the polarities.

To avoid possible damage to the Arduino board on which the shield is mounted, we

reccomend using an external power supply that provides a voltage between 7 and 12V. If your

motor require more than 9V we recommend that you separate the power lines of the shield

and the Arduino board on which the shield is mounted. This is possible by cutting the "Vin

Connect" jumper placed on the back side of the shield. The absolute limit for the Vin at the

screw terminals is 18V.

The power pins are as follows:

Vin on the screw terminal block, is the input voltage to the motor connected to the shield. An

external power supply connected to this pin also provide power to the Arduino board on

which is mounted. By cutting the "Vin Connect" jumper you make this a dedicated power line

for the motor.

GND Ground on the screw terminal block.

The shield can supply 2 amperes per channel, for a total of 4 amperes maximum.

PAGE 1
The Arduino Motor Shield is based on the L298 (datasheet), which is a dual full-bridge driver designed to drive inductive loads such as relays, solenoids, DC and stepping motors. It lets you drive two DC motors with your Arduino board, controlling the speed and direction of each one independently. You can also measure the motor current absorption of each motor, among other features. The shield is TinkerKit compatible, which means you can quickly create projects by plugging TinkerKit modules to the board.
PAGE 2
This shield has two separate channels, called A and B, that each use 4 of the Arduino pins to drive or sense the motor. In total there are 8 pins in use on this shield. You can use each channel separately to drive two DC motors or combine them to drive one unipolar stepper motor. The shield's pins, divided by channel are shown in the table below: pins per Ch. pins per Ch.