Crickit with Motor struggles

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dorif
 
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Crickit with Motor struggles

Post by dorif »

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.
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dastels
 
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Re: Crickit with Motor struggles

Post by dastels »

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

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dorif
 
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Re: Crickit with Motor struggles

Post by dorif »

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!

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Crickit with Motor struggles

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

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?
Fresh is important - especially with common alkaline batteries. They tend to fade quickly with high current loads like motors.

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.

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