DC Motor Driver Shield - L293D

DC Motor Driver Shield - L293D is a highly popular, versatile motor control expansion board designed to plug directly onto Arduino Uno and Mega microcontrollers. Powered by two high-voltage, high-current L293D dual full-bridge motor driver chips and an 8-bit 74HC595 shift register, this shield can independently drive up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-bit speed control, or 2 stepper motors (unipolar or bipolar), along with 2 servo motors simultaneously. Featuring dedicated screw terminal blocks and an external power terminal with a removable power jumper, it simplifies robotics projects by providing a clean, plug-and-play motor control solution.

Features

• Dual L293D H-Bridge driver ICs capable of driving up to 4 DC motors or 2 stepper motors simultaneously
• Dedicated 3-pin headers for driving 2 micro servos (SG90, MG996R) connected directly to Arduino 5V PWM pins (D9 and D10)
• 4 full H-bridges providing 0.6A continuous current per channel (1.2A peak) with thermal shutdown protection
• Integrated 74HC595 shift register reducing required Arduino control pins to save GPIO resources
• Individual 8-bit speed adjustment (256 levels of PWM resolution) per DC motor
• Easy motor terminal connections via screw terminals accepting 18 to 26 AWG wires
• Onboard power supply selection jumper (PWR Jumper) to separate logic power from high-current motor power
• Built-in pull-down resistors keeping motors disabled during microcontroller power-up initialization

Applications

• 4-wheel drive (4WD) and 2-wheel drive (2WD) autonomous mobile robotic chassis
• Robotic arms combining DC joint motors, stepper positioning, and servo grippers
• Automated steering mechanisms for RC vehicles, smart cars, and obstacle-avoiding rovers
• CNC plotters, mini 2-axis drawing machines, and automated conveyer systems
• Polytechnic diploma, university engineering thesis, and Arduino STEM robotics projects

Important Notes:

• Current Limitation: Each channel supports up to 0.6A continuous current. Do not use high-current DC motors (such as RS-550 or heavy high-torque motors) that draw more than 0.6A under load, as this will overheat and destroy the L293D ICs.
• Power Supply Jumper (PWR Jumper):
• Jumper Installed: Arduino logic and motors share the same power source (suited for light 5V-9V motors).
• Jumper Removed: Separate external motor power (connected to the EXT_PWR terminal) from Arduino logic power to prevent electrical noise and voltage drops.

• Pin Conflicts: Mounting this shield directly onto an Arduino Uno utilizes pins D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9, D10, D11, and D12. Take care when adding secondary sensors that use these same pins.
• Library Support: Use the standard open-source AFMotor.h (Adafruit Motor Shield) library for simple programming commands.

Package includes

• 1 x DC Motor Driver Shield - L293D