Tutorial Monster Moto Shield acts as a single motor driver = more power!

The Monster Moto (MM) from Sparkfun or dx.com (Hummer Driver) uses the VNH2SP30-E motor driver, these bridges will be used as a high power full (double) bridge driver normally. If someone is using strong motors like winches (as the mines) you need more powerful h-bridges: The VNH2SP30 can be used as a half-bridge. The famous jrks12v12s works great but are expensive (~100$ one sample). The Monster Motos are cheap (one bridge about 17$ at Aliexpress.com) and easy to use with an Arduino as a controller (17$).



The VNH2SP30 has a maximum current rating of 30 A and a continuous current of 14 A. As a half bridge (using two VNH2SP30 for one motor) you "double" the power of your h-bridge. That means, if more "Ampere" is needed, the MM can handle it. "Volt" is being left unchanged.

This tutorial is an addition to the SMC3 Arduino 3DOF Motor Driver and Windows Utilities code. Not tested but probably working the Arduino UNO/Duemilanove 2dof firmware (caution notice: different wirings to the Arduino needed!!).

To get one Monster Moto working you have to wire the two boards described as follows:


Remark: The wiring meets the specifications of the MM. This is important to prevent any short circuit.

SMC3 code can access up to 3 motors using one Arduino. If you want to connect 3 MM please wire described as follows:

Arduino -------- Monster Moto
2 (Motor 1 H-Bridge ENA) ---------------7 and 8 (INA1 and INB1)
3 (Motor 1 H-Bridge ENB)----------------4 and 9 (INA2 and INB2)
9 (Motor 1 PWM) --------------------------5 and 6 (PWM1 and PWM2)

Arduino -------- Monster Moto 2
4 (Motor 2 H-Bridge ENA) ---------------7 and 8 (INA1 and INB1)
5 (Motor 2 H-Bridge ENB)----------------4 and 9 (INA2 and INB2)
10 (Motor 2 PWM) --------------------------5 and 6 (PWM1 and PWM2)

Arduino -------- Monster Moto 3
6 (Motor 1 H-Bridge ENA) ---------------7 and 8 (INA1 and INB1)
7 (Motor 1 H-Bridge ENB)----------------4 and 9 (INA2 and INB2)
11 (Motor 1 PWM) --------------------------5 and 6 (PWM1 and PWM2)

The outputs:
A1 and B1 will have the SAME polarity
A2 and B2 will have the SAME polarity, too.

FAQ - PLEASE READ

- To be sure before connecting a motor to the h-bridge use a power meter to check the polarity of A1/B1 and A2/B2 separately if all is wired correctly!
- Use any coolers. You could (and will) damage the bridge in despite of the thermal shutdown.
- All other postings with different wirings in this thread are obsolete.

All on your own responsibility!

All Credit belongs to @RufusDufus He helped a lot and without him I would be helpless and nowhere.



Update 6/11/2014

PS: If you need still more power, here you go: http://www.xsimulator.net/community...bridge-60a-continuous-and-120a-peak-12v.6537/

You may be able to hook it up like this to turn it into a single driver but the moto monster does use a different chipset than the Pololu dual vnh5019 shown here so who knows!

No risk no fun this afternoon we will be wiser

Hi @Pit
As these drivers are designed to drive two wheel robots, you might want to check the output polarity for each H bridge.
regards Terry

hi @telfel I will test it using two power meters on each output before the winches will wired to the monster moto.

it works...stunning. tested only with powermeter do not know how it works when the winches are connected. I'll see tomorrow...


The next questions would be if I can use one Arduino with two monster motos.

I would suppose that it would...you are only using one PWM and Direction pin per Moto Monster correct?

Yes only one pin. If it works the moto monster would be a great deal in comparison with the jrks. Unfortunately at the moment the moto monster is sold out at dx. com. At ebay I found two vendors who sell at low cost. More info later.

yes, no pb!
http://www.xsimulator.net/community...1-dirpin-hbridge-board.4614/page-4#post-54946

I also ordered Moto Monster from DX, but yesterday got an email about cancelled order. I also tried Ebay, but failed to find them yet. Trying again.

Edit. OK, seems that there are plenty...

Cool beans!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cool beans

btw @bsft, I think you will find this link entertaining!

What you need to be careful about is if one h-bridge switches faster than the other you could end up with +12V connected directly to GND for brief periods of time.

Look here.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mons...river-module-high-current-30A/1701780141.html

to avoid a short circuit occurring on an output channel during operation I will use car fuses. @merchan-e thanks for the link.

After looking more closely at the diagram posted by BlazinH the shorting shouldn't be a problem.

Note that the two drivers aren't connected in parallel (which I had initially thought) but each one is used as one half of the H-Bridge. This looks good and should be possible with SMC3 MODE1 as is.

Today I will start a trial run. If everything works out I will test the maximum load. (kp=500 and PWMmax=255). I'm really looking forward to the results

0939 AM: connected the A1 <-> A2 and B1 <-> B2. Ampere/power meter test success!

That is not the way it is done in the diagram? The way you have done it you do need to worry about shorting outputs... I would recommend the method used in the diagram in post 2.

I see but the power meter says the opposite - and the live test now went well. Video follows in a few minutes.

et violà: