Crickit with Motor struggles
Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
- dorif
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:24 pm
Crickit with Motor struggles
A student of mine is working with a Crickit and Microbit along with a yellow motor to spin a 3D printed tea cup for her pinball machine. It is all wired up and programmed to tell the tech when button A is pressed spin the motor continuously until button B is pressed. For some reason when Button A is pressed it starts to spin and stops itself. We have confirmed the motor is not touching anything and there are no obstructions. We can't figure out how to keep it running. Is it a power issue? Any tips? Thanks so much.
- Attachments
-
- IMG_5324.jpg (506.77 KiB) Viewed 1351 times
-
- IMG_5328.jpg (760.1 KiB) Viewed 1351 times
- dastels
- Posts: 15662
- Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2015 3:22 pm
Re: Crickit with Motor struggles
Does the motor jiggle the wires causing them to short? Putting some tape (electrical or masking would work fine) on the connections would test that idea.
Does button A again start the motor after it stops?
Dave
Does button A again start the motor after it stops?
Dave
- dorif
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:24 pm
Re: Crickit with Motor struggles
Thanks for the reply. I swapped out the motor and the crickit and I have it working fairly well right now. I wonder if there is enough power? Seems like having fresh batteries is important, but since it will be connected to a pinball machine, is there a strategy you might suggest for power? It needs to run off of batteries. Currently I have 3 AA batteries connected. Thanks for your help!
- adafruit_support_bill
- Posts: 88093
- Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am
Re: Crickit with Motor struggles
Fresh is important - especially with common alkaline batteries. They tend to fade quickly with high current loads like motors.Seems like having fresh batteries is important, but since it will be connected to a pinball machine, is there a strategy you might suggest for power?
How long does it need to run? You can step up to a 4-cell pack and adjust the speed in code. C-size cells will have more capacity than AA. And NimH rechargeable cells (e.g. Eneloop) tend to perform better than alkaline with motor loads.
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.