Lesson VNH5019 power question using an Arduino

On Pololu I found the hint, that the motor driver shield and Arduino are powered separately. When used this way, the Arduino must be powered via USB, its power jack, or its VIN pin, and the shield must be supplied with 5.5 to 24 V through the large VIN and GND pads on the right side of the board. Attempting to power the shield through other means, such as from the Arduino or through the small VOUT pin, can permanently damage both the Arduino and the shield (only the large power traces on the right side of the shield are designed to handle the high currents involved in powering motors).

I translate this as each board has its own power source and they have not to be connected on the 5V line.
https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J49/3.c


PS: how to connect the VNH5019 to the Ard:

I agree motor power must be from other source, because some motors make spikes on PSU. I have bad experience with one source.

If you dont power the vnh 55019 through the large vin and gnd pads then you dont have reverse voltage protection...

Thats your major issue.

And as you said this can permanently damage both the Arduino and the shield.

Hey Pit, I was pointed to your post by Noorbeast. I am going to be using a VNH5019 on my setup, and will be connecting it to an Arduino Uno that I already have loaded with the SMC3 code. I was wondering if you happen to have a connection diagram for how things translate to an UNO board, as I do not fully understand how to translate what you have shown to my board. Perhaps I am just looking at it wrong. Thanks!

Hi Scotty, the VNH is pretty the same like the MM, NTL I can upload a photo taken from a combo.

That would be great! I tried MM's, only to find out later that the motors I got were 24v, not 12 as I was led to believe. Fortunately the 2 MM's I got were bad to begin with, so I'll be sending them back. All my research was done with MM's, so I'm essentially starting over. This driver still works with the SMC3 software in mode1, correct?

I was planning on just doing a 2dof seat. I see that you have them doubled up, but is one enough to power 2 motors reasonably?

one VNH is OK as long the motors are not too powerful. Any specs about your motors you would like to buy?

I have been scouring trying to find some kind of specs for them. They are actually taken from an Invacare Pronto M51 wheelchair. Here is a link for purchasing them, but I have been unable to find exact specs for them.
http://www.monsterscooterparts.com/motor-gearbox-invacare-pronto-m5a-m61.html

Similar chairs that I can find specs for use motors that run 50:1 gearboxes, so I am banking on that being accurate to these as well. I am hoping they will work since they still run very well and are well built motors. I did remove the electromagnetic brake from them to help them run more efficiently as well.

I will be honest, this is a pretty budget build, but so far it has gone well (aside from the MM issues, but that seems to be on par.) I am hoping that if I can at least get the driver situation figured out I will follow up with whether or not the motors are adequate down the road.

Thank you again for your help! This community has been amazing for advice and help in this project.

So that didn't go as planned. I must have had an issue with the wiring between the Uno and the Pololu. When I connected the PSU to the Pololu it popped the Uno. I'll try again wednesday and see where I went wrong...hopefully I didn't knock them both out!

You can destroy the vnh if it was wrongly connected to the pole of the PSU. If you read carefully the SMC manual you will determine all pinouts of the MM and the vnh have identical or similar labels.

The psu connection was good. I determined that the problem was a jumper in the wrong plug of the arduino. It was bound to happen eventually, as good as my luck has been so far

Trying out spaghetti syndrome, vnh5019 as a double combo single driver...waiting for burning things

You should be fine - I have already done this in the past when I was testing 24V motors.

Cool mate, and how would you sum up your experience?

It worked fine, just did not do too much with them as I could not get more of the same motor that I tested with - Ie. They did not make it anymore - so went with the cheaper 12V system that I had initially started with and readily available.

this VNH5019 driver is nice
https://www.pololu.com/docs/pdf/0J49/dual_vnh5019_motor_driver_shield.pdf
- ultrasonic PWM
- 24V supply (but no battery allowed...)
- double single bridge!!
Do you intend to drive 24V @48A (120A peak) = 1,1 kW

theoretically yes, but practically I don't think so. The vnh5019 was my first 24V driver and I had serious troubles to get them working as a single driver on high demand currents or peak currents. Now testing as a dual single driver but with less powerful motors (24V, 160W)

at 7 amp, the driver should be fine