C. shield connections, Section 3.c – Pololu Dual VNH5019 User Manual
Page 8
thick wires with
should be soldered directly to the
board. The smaller holes are intended only for 0.1″ header pins, not for the terminal blocks!
3. Arduino power jumper: If you want the option of powering your Arduino and motor shield from the same
source, you can solder a 2×1 piece of the included 0.1″ male header strip to the pins highlighted in orange in
the above picture. Shorting across these pins with the included shorting block will connect the shield power to
the Arduino’s VIN pin. You should not use this to power the shield from the Arduino as this connection is not
designed to handle high currents, and you must never supply power to the Arduino’s VIN pin or power jack while
this shorting block is in place, because it will create a short between the shield power supply and the Arduino
power supply and will likely permanently damage something.
4. Additional power capacitor: The motor driver shield includes three pre-installed 47 uF electrolytic power
capacitors, and there is space—highlighted in blue in the above picture—to add an additional capacitor (e.g. to
compensate for long power wires or increase stability of the power supply). An additional power capacitor is
usually not necessary, and no additional capacitors are included with this shield.
The other through-holes on the shield are used for more advanced things like customizing the Arduino pin mappings
and are not necessary for getting started using this shield with an Arduino. They are discussed in more detail later in
this guide.
3.c. Shield Connections
Dual VNH5019 motor driver shield with an Arduino (shield and Arduino powered separately).
All of the necessary logic connections between the Arduino and the motor driver shield are made automatically when
the shield is plugged into the Arduino. However, the shield’s power connections must be made directly to the shield
itself via its large VIN and GND pads. The picture above shows the typical connections involved in using this board
as an Arduino shield.
Pololu Dual VNH5019 Motor Driver Shield User’s Guide
© 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation
3. Getting Started with an Arduino
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