That covers the basics of the L298. If you’re curious, or want to know more
about the chip, checking out the datasheet is a good place to start.
Ardumoto Overview
Before you get your soldering iron out, or start attaching motors, it’d be best
if we briefly covered the basics of the Ardumoto Shield. On this page, we’ll
highlight the important inputs and outputs of the shield, so you can get a
better idea of how you want to assemble it later.
Pins and Connectors
Here’s an annotated view of the shield, highlighting the important pins and
components:
The top side of the Ardumoto
The bottom side of the Ardumoto and jumpers
Each motor uses two pins: the digital output for
direction
and the PWM for
speed
. The factory configuration uses Arduino pins 2, 3, 4 and 11. The
alternate configuration uses pins 7, 8, 9 and 10. If the alternate pins are
needed, you’ll have to cut the copper links on the bottom and apply solder
to bridge to the other selection where necessary. For this guide, just leave
everything in the default positions.
If the shield is used on a 3.3V Arduino (such as the Arduino Pro 328 -
3.3V/8MHz), chances are there’s no 5V supply, so you’ll have to move the
VCCIO jumper to the 3.3V side. This jumper selects the voltage for the
L298’s logic. If you’re using an Uno, or 5V 328p of another variety, leave
this in the default position.
This table describes the pin function for each configuration.
Default
Pin
Alternate
Pin
Ardumoto
Shield Pin
Label
Notes
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