Drive multiple twin motor gearbox and solenoid.

[sharat471]

Hello, I am building an autonomous system that would use 2 twin gearboxes and a solenoid. What is the best way to control these using arduino? Any advise is appreciated. Thank you.

gearbox 1 - https://www.pololu.com/product/61
gearbox 2 - https://www.pololu.com/product/74
solenoid - http://www.mcmaster.com/#69905k95/=xeyao9

[adafruit_support_bill]

The 3v motors in those gearboxes are a little hard to work with. You can get most H-bridges to sort-of work with them. but the it is hard to speed control is not very precise. And, since they are operating at such a low voltage, they need a lot of current, and the stall current (2.1A) is enough to fry any of the L293D-based motor shields.

These motors are a drop-in replacement, but are designed for 6v operation (double teh voltage means half the current for the same power), so they are a better match for the H-bridges in most of the motor shields. https://www.adafruit.com/product/711

Our V2 motor shield will control all 4 of them. https://www.adafruit.com/products/1438

The Solenoid is best controlled with a power MOSFET and a diode for kickback protection.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/355
https://www.adafruit.com/products/755

Connection is as in the diagram below. Using the MOSFET linked above, the 10K ohm resistor shown is not required.

[sharat471]

Is there a way to control the solenoid, arduino and the shield using a single power supply? Thank you.

[adafruit_support_bill]

It is not clear what the operating voltage of the solenoid is. The link you posted has a whole page of solenoids.

In general, you would find a supply that can handle the highest voltage component, and use regulators to reduce the voltage for the other components.

[sharat471]

Thank you. The solenoid is - Sealed Linear Solenoid Intermittent, Pull, 24V DC, 1/4" Stroke, 4 oz Force.
I see 24V DC going directly to solenoid and the same stepped down voltage going down to the (arduino+motor shield). What regulator can we use for this?

[adafruit_support_bill]

This would be a good choice. It should have enough power for both the motors and the Arduino.: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1385

Since this is 5v, you can't feed it to the Arduino DC input (i needs 7v -12v). You can feed direct to the Arduino 5v pin. Or, you can cut the "B" end from a USB cable and splice that onto onto the output of the UBEC. Then you can power the Arduino via the USB jack.

[sharat471]

Thank you. Any recommendation on the 24v supply adapter I could use?

[adafruit_support_bill]

We do not havre any 24v supplies in the store. You might check with Jameco, or Mouser. You probably want one rated for about 2-3A.

[msc_chandu]

Hello. Is there a solenoid at adafruit that you recommend which is compatible with a suitable power supply available on adafruit.com? Thank you.

[adafruit_support_bill]

Either of these will run from a 12v supply:
https://www.adafruit.com/products/412
https://www.adafruit.com/products/413

Such as this one:
https://www.adafruit.com/products/798

[msc_chandu]

Thank you.

Will this adapter be enough to drive the solenoid and the arduino & shield?

I am planning to use this adapter to drive the solenoid and connect the "UBEC DC/DC Step-Down (Buck) Converter - 5V @ 3A output" to the same. The output of the UBEC will drive the arduino and the shield.

[adafruit_support_bill]

Will this adapter be enough to drive the solenoid and the arduino & shield?

Which shield?

[msc_chandu]

Hello. The shield is the v2 motor shield - https://www.adafruit.com/products/1438.

I went over the previous communication again; By using a 12V power supply (https://www.adafruit.com/products/352), I can be directly connected to a 12V solenoid, ardruino DC port with v2 motor shield. Is my understanding correct?

If yes, then this should my problem with using single power supply instead of many.

Thank you.

[adafruit_support_bill]

Yes. That should work.