Motor Driver Board for Raspberry Pi Pico

Make the Raspberry Pi Pico the core of your new buggy project with the Kitronik Compact Motor Driver Board for Raspberry Pi Pico.

This board allows the Raspberry Pi Pico (connected via pin header) to drive two motors simultaneously with full forward, reverse & stop control, making it ideal for Pico controlled buggy projects. Alternatively, the board can be used to power a stepper motor. The board also features the DRV8833 motor driver IC, which has built-in short circuit, over current and thermal protection.

The board also features 4 external connections to GPIO pins and a 3V and GND supply from the Pico. This allows for additional IO options for your buggy builds that can be read or controlled by the Pico. There is also an on/off switch and power status LED. See at a glance if the board is powered up and save your batteries when your project is not in use.

To use the motor driver board, the Pico should have a soldered pin header and be inserted firmly into the connector. The board also produces a regulated 3V supply that is fed into the 40-way connector to power the Pico, removing the need to power the Pico directly. The motor driver board is powered via a USB style connector.

Kitronik has developed a micro-python module and sample code to support the use of the Motor Driver board with the Pico. This code is available in the GitHub repo.

Note: Raspberry Pi Pico is NOT included. You'll need a Pico with male headers soldered to it. You can grab a Pico here and Pico male headers here, or buy a Pico with pre-soldered headers.

Features

• A compact yet feature-packed board designed to sit at the heart of your Raspberry Pi Pico robot buggy projects
• The board can drive 2 motors simultaneously with full forward, reverse, and stop control
• It features the DRV8833 motor driver IC, which has built-in short circuit, over-current and thermal protection
• This board also features an on/off switch and power status LED
• Power the board via a terminal block style connector
• The 3V and GND pins are also broken out, allowing external devices to be powered
• Code it with MicroPython or via an editor such as the Thonny editor
• Dimensions:
  • Length: 63mm
  • Width: 35mm
  • Height: 11.6mm
  • PCB Thickness: 1.6mm
  • Mounting Holes (Diameter): 3mm

Specification

• Operating Voltage (Vcc): 3V to 10V
• Number of motor channels
• 2 (2 motors with forward + reverse control, controlled by GP2 &GP3, GP6 & GP7 or 1 stepper motor with coils connected to GP2 & GP3, GP6 & GP7)
• Typical motor output Voltage (Vm) @ 1.5A output per channel: Vm = Vcc
• Max Current per motor channel: 1.5A
• GPIO Pins: GP0, GP1 (Default UART). GP27,GP28 (ADC0, ADC1)
• Digital output drive current: 4mA

Contents

• 1 x Kitronik Compact Motor Driver Board for Raspberry Pi Pico

Raspberry Pi Pico not included

Requires

• A Raspberry Pi Pico board (with male headers fitted)

Resources

• Datasheet
• Example code - GitHub repository
• About MicroPython
• About Python
• The Thonny editor