Elecfreaks Motor:bit User manual

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Introduction
ELECFREKAS Motor:bit is a kind of motor drive board based on micro:bit. It has integrated a motor drive
chip TB6612, which can drive two DC motors with 1.2A max single channel current. Motor:bit has
integrated Octopus series’ sensor connectors. You can plug various sensors into it directly. Among these
connectors, P0, P3-P7, P9-P10 support sensors with 3.3V power voltage only; P13-P16, P19-P20 support
3.3V or 5V sensors. You can change electric level by sliding the switch on the board.
Hardware
Features:
1. Motor Drive Chip: TB6612
2. Support GVS-Octopus electric Bricks’ connector
3. Some GVS connectors support electric level switch between 3.3V and 5V.
4. With 2 channels DC motor connectors, max single channel current is 1.2A.
5. Input Voltage: DC 6-12V
6. Dimension: 60.00mm X 60.10mm
7. Weight: 30 g
Application:
1. It is compatible with ElecFreaks Octopus electric bricks module series due to its built-in 3 pin IO
electric brick GVS extension connector.
2. It can be used as the development board of mini smart cars and balance cars.
3. Users can develop mobile-controlled robot, robot arms, etc..

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Connector Information:

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Type Instruction
Buzzer Buzzer is controlled by P0.
LED COL Micro:bit LED matrix control
pin
VCC Switch 3.3V/5V electric level
switch only for P13-P16,
P19, P20.
Button-A Micro:bit main board button
A
P4-
P7,P9,P10,P13-
P16,P19,P20
Digital connecotr
P4,P10 Analog connector/PWM
SCK MISO MOSI Hardware SPI pin -
P13,P14,P15
SDA SCL Hardware IIC pin -P19,P20
The power switch External power switch
6-12V GND External power connector
M1+ M1- M2+ M2- Connector of two DC motor
or one stepping motor.
PWR Power Indicator

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Detailed Introduction Of Some Connectors：
1. VCC Switch-3.3V/5V electric level switch.
Slide switch to the end of 5V, the electric level of the blue pins (P13、P14、P15、P16、P19、P20) on
motor:bit is 5V, and the voltage of the red power pins is 5V too. Similarly, when slide switch to 3.3V, the
voltage of blue pins and red pins are 3.3V.
2. Digital Pin Connector.
Digital pins: P4、P5、P6、P7、P9、P10.
G-3V3-S connector: 3V3 stands for 3.3V power voltage, G is for GND, S is for signal. GVS is a standard sensor
connector, which enables you to plug onto servos and various sensors conveniently. At the same time, it supports
our Octopus Bricks series’products.
3. 3.3V/5V dual electric level GND-VCC-SIG connector：P13, P14, P15, P16, P19, P20.
The specialty of G-VCC-SIG connector lies in that it can support 3.3V or 5V power device by shifting electric level
of 3.3V/ 5V through VCC connector. At the same time, it supports our Octopus Bricks series’ products.

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Motor Input Connector: Two motor input connectors in total. M1+, M1- and M2+, M2- separately controls a channel
of DC motor.
M1，M2 Motor Control Instruction: P8 and P12 relatively controls the rotating direction of M1 and M2; P1
and P2 control motor speed.
Pin Function Note
P8 Direction
control of M1
Positive rotate
under high
voltage; negative

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rotate under low
voltage.
P1 Speed control
of M1
PWM
P2 Speed control
of M2
PWM
P12 Direction
control of M2
Positive rotate
under high
voltage; negative
rotate under low
voltage.
Dimension:

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1. Example
Hardware Connection
Please connect components according to the picture below:

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Programming
Positive Rotation Of Motor:
P8 in high electric level means the positive rotation of motor. You can adjust the logic value of P1 to
control motor speed.
Negative Rotation Of Motor: