needing help to connect a 2-pin rc-car steering motor to an adafruit pwm i2c controller

So I saw a neat project on a magazine about controlling an rc-car wirelessly through a raspberry pi, using pwm.

I ordered everything I needed, mainly an i2c controller, and I started working on it. i am using a clone of the adafruit controller instead of a real one, because it was a lot cheaper, though the functionality remains the same.

Now, I have a problem. The article says that I need to connect the steering motor to the 3 pins on the adafruit controller, which are labeled power, ground, and PWM, but my motor only has two wires, so I have no idea what they do, or what to do next.

I do not have another rc-car to do this on. How do I connect the motor to the controller? do I need to get a different motor?

Thank you for your help!

Top Replies

tlucas756 over 7 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

I was planning on tearing the motor apart and only salvage the motor itself, because the assembly of the motor in the car already has the gears inside.

Though, if I'm gonna do that, I'll just get the cheaper one, since I won't be using the metal gears
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
ninjatrent over 7 years ago

The L293D h bridge will drive this type of motor. It is a very low cost part (US $2). The PCA9685 is for use with servos although as mentioned a circuit can be created. The cheapest and easiest option would be to purchase an L293D h bridge.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/807
Cancel
Vote Up +3 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
beacon_dave over 7 years ago in reply to tlucas756

Ok - are you familiar with what's inside a servo motor though ?

If not then you may want to take a quick look at this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cvCRnVFpnA
Cancel
Vote Up +2 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
dougw over 7 years ago in reply to tlucas756

The servo needs the rest of the internal circuitry to work like a servo. If you just use the motor, you will need the H-bridge just like any other DC motor.
Cancel
Vote Up +2 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
ninjatrent over 7 years ago

Hi Tiago,

I have the Adafruit version of this part.

I have also experienced taking a rc car apart to find this type of 6V motor for steering control. It is not as precise as a servo. If this is the only option for your project then I would recommend a L293D or L298N Dual H Bridge Motor driver. This will handle the 6V steering and drive motors on this car.

This will be easier than replacing the steering motor with a servo.

The 16 channel pwm/servo driver that you have purchased is a good part for a hexapod type robot or robotic arm. With this part you could include a servo controlled arm or a camera gimbal into your project. This pwm/servo driver might also be used to control RGB LEDs.It might also be possible to use this driver to control the esc on a quadcopter drone. Even if you can't use it with your current project, it might come in handy for a future project.
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel