How to operate sample box motors

Note: for use in laboratory environment only, not tested for EMI (electromagnetic interference)
Note: All information below and content of links are subject to the disclaimer of the Johnson Electric website

The sample box contains a driver kit, consisting of an Arduino UNO microcontroller and a motor
driver shield with Texas Instruments DRV8835, which can operate Stepper and DC motors.

Blue PCB with Arduino UNO µcontroller

Green PCB with DRV8835 stepper/DC

motor driver

Light blue terminal block for motor

connection

All Stepper and DC motors in the box, which are equipped with a MTA connector, can quickly be
connected to the driver kit terminal block connector.

Motor control is done by software, running on the Arduino UNO microcontroller.

There are two different software programs (sketches) available, one for Stepper motors and one for
DC motors.
These sketches can be downloaded from website:
http://www.johnsonelectric.com/motoractuatorsamplebox.com

Prior to that, the Arduino software (IDE) must be downloaded from the Arduino website
(see attachment below).

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 Operate Stepper Motors
Note: Stepper motors have windings of 40 ohm, suitable for continuous operation at 6Vdc.
Battery voltage is 9Vc  operation time should not exceed ∼ 2 min, followed by a longer break

Open the sketch for Stepper motor.

Select (modify) the operation features.

Note: Don’t change anything else in the sketch, otherwise the sketch will fail (a failure message is
displayed). There is need to correct the sketch acc to screenshot above or to re-load it.

Connect Arduino via USB cable to a computer.

LED “ON” will glow green and LED “L” will flash, then glow yellow.

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Click “Tools”
Check, if Board “Arduino/Genuino Uno” is selected
Click the COM-Port.

Connect the Stepper motor to the terminal block.

Switch on battery power supply (9V battery).

Upload the sketch to Arduino:

After a few seconds:

► You see message: “Upload completed” in left bottom corner of the screen.

► Motor operation is starting.

You can re-start operation either by uploading again

or by pushing the Reset-button on Arduino.

Note:
Check regularly battery voltage – measure it by multimeter during motor operation.
Don’t forget to switch off the battery at the end.

If motor doesn’t work - see troubleshooting.

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 Operate DC Motors

Open the sketch for DC motor.

Select (modify) the operation features.

Note: Don’t change anything else in the sketch, otherwise the sketch will fail (a failure message
is displayed).There is need to correct the sketch acc to screenshot above or to re-load it.

Connect Arduino via USB cable to a computer.

LED “ON” will glow green and LED “L” will flash, then glow yellow.

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Click “Tools”.
Check, if Board “Arduino/Genuino Uno” is selected.
Click the COM-Port.

Connect the DC motor to the terminal block.

Switch on battery power supply (9V battery).

Upload the sketch to Arduino:

After a few seconds

► You see message in left bottom corner: “Upload completed”.

► Motor operation is starting.

You can re-start operation either by uploading again

or by pushing the Reset-button on Arduino.

Note:
Check regularly battery voltage – measure it by multimeter during motor operation.
Don’t forget to switch off the battery at the end.

If motor doesn’t work - see troubleshooting.

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 Attachment: Download Arduino software (IDE)

Go to https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

Download
(about 90MB)

Once download completed and Installation

Folder opened – click “Install”
(before you can optionally change the
Installation Folder).

Wait until installation is finished.

Go to the Installation Folder -

you see a number of files:

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In parallel, a desktop icon is created.
If not, you can drag the icon onto desktop:

Click the desktop icon and a sketch

template will open:

You can change the font size optionally for better visibility:

Go to File / Preferences.

Change font size to 16, e.g.

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 Troubleshooting

If the motor doesn’t work, please consider following potential root causes:

USB cable connected to Arduino ?

LED “ON” glowing green ?

Battery switched ON ?

Battery connected to Arduino ? Test voltage 9V approx at terminal block.

All motor wires connected properly ?

Test motor winding resistance at terminal block (40ohm approx).

Failure message when uploading the sketch from the computer to Arduino ?

Does LED “L” will flash, then glow yellow ?

Is the right COM port activated in “Preferences” ?

If more than one port is displayed here, find the right one in Windows Device Manager.

Linear motors might have reached their inner or outer end stop –> re-start with other direction.

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