Motors

TB6612FNG motor driver with ESP32

If a motor runs weakly on an L298N, the driver may be the reason. That older chip uses bipolar transistors and sources report a loss of 1.4 V to 3 V, so a 6 V motor can get far less than 6 V. The TB6612FNG uses MOSFETs and sources put its drop at about 0.5 V or lower, depending on current. It also accepts 3.3 V logic directly, between 2.7 and 5.5 V, so an ESP32 can drive it with no level shifter.

Each of its two channels handles 1.2 A continuous and 3.2 A peak, with a motor supply from 2.5 to 13.5 V. Check your motor's stall current, not only its running current: a motor rated well under 1 A can stall at far more. Sources describe the L298N as covering higher voltages, up to 46 V, so it still has a place on a 24 V machine. For sustained 2 A or more, choose a bigger driver such as the BTS7960.

Each motor takes two direction pins and one PWM pin, and all motors share a STBY pin that must be high or nothing moves. That is five or more GPIOs, which is a lot for a parallel RGB board. Check the board page first. Give the motors their own supply, since their current spikes will reset a display board that shares it, and join the grounds. PWM around 5 kHz avoids most audible whine. LCD Ultra Pro can set PWM and output pins from a slider or rule, so simple speed and direction control needs no code.

const int PWMA = 5, AIN1 = 6, AIN2 = 7, STBY = 15;
const int FREQ = 5000, BITS = 10;

void motor(int speed) {             // -1023 to 1023
  digitalWrite(AIN1, speed > 0);
  digitalWrite(AIN2, speed < 0);
  ledcWrite(PWMA, abs(speed));
}

void setup() {
  pinMode(AIN1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(AIN2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(STBY, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(STBY, HIGH);
  ledcAttach(PWMA, FREQ, BITS);
}

void loop() {
  motor(600);  delay(2000);
  motor(0);    delay(500);
  motor(-600); delay(2000);
  motor(0);    delay(500);
}

Use this information at your own risk. It is for general guidance only: the example code compiles, but it has not been tested on every part, and modules differ between sellers. Check the manufacturer's data before you build. Product names belong to their owners, and LCD Ultra Pro is not affiliated with them. See our Terms.