Posted in Arduino, Product Tutorials, Programming

Getting Started with L293D Motor Driver Shield Four Channel: A Beginner’s Guide

The L293D Motor Driver Shield is a must-have for anyone building a 2WD or 4WD robotic car. This shield allows easy control of two to four DC motors. Making it perfect for various robot vehicle projects. It attaches directly to an Arduino, reducing the need for complex wiring and making setup fast and simple. With built-in motor control features, it enables smooth forward, backward, left, and right movements—ideal for DIY robotic projects.

This shield supports motor voltages from 4.5V to 12V. It allows speed and direction control for each motor. The onboard H-bridge motor driver (L293D) ensures efficient motor performance, making your robot more responsive. The L293D Motor Driver Shield includes dedicated terminal blocks for motor connections. It allows easy integration with different motor setups.

To complement this motor driver. It is compatible with seven different variants of the 65mm TT Motor Wheel, which come in different colors and styles. These durable rubber wheels offer excellent grip and smooth movement, ensuring stable performance on various surfaces.

Components:

Connections:

  • Adafruit Motor Shield (L293D-based) mounted on the Arduino.
  • DC Motor connected to M3 terminal on the shield:
    • Motor Terminal 1 → M3+ on the shield
    • Motor Terminal 2 → M3- on the shield

Note: Install the Adafruit Motor Shield library

  • In the Library Manager, search for “Adafruit Motor Shield library” by Adafruit.

Code:

This setup allows the motor connected to M3 to move forward, backward, and stop as programmed in the AFMotor library, while ensuring proper wiring with the negative already tied to the L293D chip inside the shield.

#include <AFMotor.h>

AF_DCMotor motor1(3, MOTOR12_64KHZ); // Left Motor on M3

void setup() {
    Serial.begin(9600);
    Serial.println("Starting Motor Test");
    motor1.setSpeed(200); // Speed (0-255)
}

void loop() {
    Serial.println("Moving Forward");
    motor1.run(FORWARD);
    delay(3000);

    Serial.println("Moving Backward");
    motor1.run(BACKWARD);
    delay(3000);

    Serial.println("Stopping");
    motor1.run(RELEASE);
    delay(3000);
}

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