Power Connections

External Power to Shield

There is a block of six connectors with screw clamp-downs on the motor shield for attaching the external power supply that will provide the power for the motors. Only the outermost of the terminals are used, with markings of + and - on the circuit board to identify the terminals.

Output Terminals

Power is supplied to the motors using a row of either 8 (MOTO4) or 12 (MOTO6) connectors with screw clamp-downs for the wires. There are two connectors for each wire with the arrangement of the connectors shown below. The last four connectors (marked 5A, 5B, 6A, and 6B) are not present for the MOTO4 motor shield.

1A	1B	2A	2B	3A	3B	4A	4B	5A	5B	6A	6B
M1		M2		M3		M4		M5		M6

If the motor is set to drive in the clockwise direction, the A pin has a voltage that is positive with respect to the B pin. If a motor is set to drive in the counter-clockwise direction, the voltage of the B pin is positive with respect to the A pin. It should be noted that the use of clockwise and counter-clockwise as used here is based on the convention used by the Wicked Device Motor Shield and accompanying software and documentation.

When dealing with DC motors, if the red lead is positive with respect to the black lead, the motor spins in a clockwise direction when viewed from the end when viewed from the end of the spindle looking down towards the motor. Reversing the polarity of the leads reverses the direction of rotation.

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