Dual Motor / Bipolar Stepper Module for Yukon

by Pimoroni

Drive two brushed DC motors or one bipolar stepper motor from your Pimoroni Yukon project, with this dual motor driver with adjustable current limiting.

This useful dual H-bridge motor driver can deliver up to 1.6A continuous (2.24A peak) per channel across Yukon's 5 to 17V input voltage range, and has built in temperature and fault sensors to help prevent mishaps.

We used four of these modules to drive the stepper motors on a previously unloved CNC mill, turning it into a fun oversized pen plotter!

Motors are sold separately.

Features

  • DRV8424P dual H-bridge driver (datasheet)
  • Drive 2 x brushed DC motors or 1x bipolar stepper motor
  • Screw terminals for attaching your motors
  • Adjustable current limit from 0.16A to 2.24A
  • Temperature and fault sensors
  • Fully-assembled (no soldering required)
  • Compatible with Pimoroni Yukon

Software

We've supplied all the usual examples to help you get started driving motors and steppers with Yukon. We've also included our pen plotter project as one of our show case examples, complete with experimental G-code parsing.

Pinout and Schematic

Notes

  • Measurements: 24mm x 20mm x 13.7mm (L x W x H).
  • This module uses either the RP2040's PWM hardware or PIO to control the motor outputs, depending on the code used. With PWM, only four modules can be used simultaneously (for a total of 8 dc motors), and they should be placed in Yukon Slots that do not share the same PWMs. PIO does not have this restriction letting all six slots be used (for a total of 12 dc motors), at the cost of using up a single PIO state machine.
    • PWM 0A/0B/1A/1B are on Yukon Slots 1 and 5
    • PWM 2A/2B/3A/3B are on Yukon Slots 2 and 6
    • PWM 4A/4B/5A/5B are on Yukon Slot 3 (5A/5B are also on GP26/GP27)
    • PWM 6A/6B/7A/7B are on Yukon Slot 4
  • Stepper motor support is currently only via PWM.

About Yukon

Yukon is a high-power modular robotics and engineering platform, built around Raspberry Pi's formidable RP2040 chip. It has slots for attaching interchangeable hardware modules for driving combinations of devices such as motors, servos, steppers, and LED strips, all from one board!

Featuring an XT30 connector, Yukon can be directly powered off 2 to 4 cell LiPo batteries (or any other 5 to 17V source), to deliver up to 15A continuous for your high-power projects. An e-Fuse with switchable output protects the board, along with voltage, current, and temperature sensors that can be monitored by your programs.

View all Yukon!