Arduino DC Motor Control using

L298N Motor Driver

In this project, we will see how to control a DC Motor using Arduino and
L298N Motor Driver. There are different ways to control a DC Motor but the
Arduino DC Motor Control using L298N Motor Driver is becoming quite
popular for many reasons.

Table of Contents
 Overview
 Speed Control of DC Motor using PWM
o Code
 DC Motor Control using H-Bridge
 A Brief Note on L298N Motor Driver
 Arduino DC Motor Control using L298N
o Circuit Diagram
o Components Required
o Code
 Applications 
Overview
A DC Motor is the simplest of motors that beginners and hobbyists
encounter. It is very simple to operate: connect the two leads of the motor
to the two terminals of a battery and voila! Your motor starts rotating.

If you switch the leads i.e. reverse the polarity, the motor will rotate in
reverse direction. It is as simple as that.

If you want to control the speed of rotation of a simple DC Motor, then there
is a technique called PWM DC Motor Control. The Pulse Width Modulation
or PWM signal generated by this technique will allow us to control the
average voltage that is being delivered to the DC Motor.

Speed Control of DC Motor using PWM

Using PWM technique, the average value of the voltage that is applied to
the DC Motor is controlled by turning the power on and off at a very high
rate. The frequency of this switching will be in the order of few tens of kilo
Hertz.
Now, the average voltage applied to the DC Motor will depend on what is
called as the Duty Cycle of the PWM Signal. Duty Cycle of a PWM Signal is
nothing but the ratio of the time for which the signal is ON or HIGH to the
total time period of the signal i.e. sum of ON time and OFF time.

Duty Cycle is usually expressed in percent and the following figure

represents different PWM Signals of a 12V supply with different duty cycles
of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% respectively.

Now that we have controlled the average voltage that is to be supplied to a

DC Motor, how do we apply this voltage to the motor? Here comes the use
of Transistor.

The PWM Signal from any source like Arduino in this example, can be
given to the gate of a MOSFET and depending on the duty cycle of the
PWM Signal, the speed of the DC Motor will vary.
The following image shows a simple circuit diagram, where a PWM output
from Arduino is given to a MOSFET and the 12V DC Motor is connected
through the MOSFET.
The code for this circuit is given below. Using this code, the Arduino will
vary the speed of a DC Motor in a fading fashion i.e. gradually increases
the speed to peak and then gradually decreases the speed to halt.

Code

int PWMPin = 10;

int motorSpeed = 0

void setup()
{

void loop()
{

for (motorSpeed = 0 ; motorSpeed <= 255; motorSpeed += 10)

{
analogWrite(PWMPin, motorSpeed);
delay(30);
}

for (motorSpeed = 255 ; motorSpeed >= 0; motorSpeed -= 10)

{
analogWrite(PWMPin, motorSpeed);
delay(30);
}
}

view rawArduino_MOSFET_DC_Motor_Control.ino  hosted with ❤ by GitHub

This circuit is good for controlling the speed of the motor but not an
effective way to change the direction of rotation. For changing the direction
of rotation without reversing the leads of the motor every time, you need to
use a special circuit called H-Bridge.
DC Motor Control using H-Bridge
An H-Bridge is a simple electronic circuit consisting of four switching
elements like transistors (BJT or MOSFET) that can drive a motor in both
the directions without switching the leads.

The name “H-Bridge” refers to the look of the connection consisting of four
transistors and a motor in the center forming the letter “H”.

A simple H-Bridge connection using four transistors and a motor is shown

below. By activating two particular transistors at the same time, we can
control the flow of current through the motor and hence the direction of
rotation.
The two control inputs A and B in the above circuit will determine the
direction of rotation of the motor. If A is LOW and B is HIGH, transistors Q1
and Q4 will be turned on and allow current to flow through the motor in a
particular direction.
If the control input A is made HIGH and B is LOW, then transistors Q2 and
Q3 will turn on and the flow of current through the motor is reversed and so
the direction of the rotation.

By combining both the features i.e. PWM technique for speed control and
H-Bridge connection for direction control, you can have a complete control
on a DC Motor.

It is tedious to use transistors for making an effective H-Bridge connection.

For this purpose, there are dedicated H-Bridge Motor Driver IC available in
the market and the two common IC’s are L293D and L298N.

We have already seen how to control the speed of a DC Motor using

L293D in an earlier project. In this project, we will focus on the more
advanced L298N Motor Driver and see Arduino DC Motor Control using
L298N Motor Driver using PWM technique. 

Also read DC MOTOR CONTROL WITH ARDUINO AND L293D

A Brief Note on L298N Motor Driver

L298N Motor Driver IC is a 15-lead high voltage, high current Motor Driver
IC with two full bridge drivers. The logic levels of L298N IC are compatible
with standard TTL and IC can be used to drive different inductive loads like
DC Motors, Stepper Motors, Relay, etc.

The following image shows the Pin Diagram of the L298N IC in Multiwatt
Package (Multi Leaded Power Package).
Since the L298N Motor Driver IC is a dual full bridge driver IC, you can
control two motors at the same time with individual inputs. The logic supply
voltage is 5V but the motor supply voltage can be as high as 45V. The
peak output current per channel is 2A.

Generally, L298N Driver is available as modules that contains all the

necessary components and connectors for controlling two DC Motors. One
such module is shown below. I’ll explain few important components on this
module.
The L298N Motor Driver Module consists of two 2-pin screw terminal
blocks for connecting two motors. It also has six pin male headers for
connecting the two enable inputs and the four input pins (two for each
motor).

There is a 3-pin screw terminal block through which you need to give the
supply voltage to the motor. If the motors used are rated for 12V or less,
then the 12V supply is given through this screw terminal and the onboard
5V regulator will provide the 5V logic supply to the L298N IC.
You can also access this regulated 5V through the third pin in the 3-pin
screw terminal block. The jumper provided near the 3-pin screw terminal
must be engaged for supply voltages up to 12V as this jumper will enable
the onboard regulator. The 5V output from the third pin of the 3-pin screw
terminal is available only when the jumper is engaged i.e. supply voltage is
12V. This 5V output can be used to power your Arduino Board.

If the supply voltage is greater than 12V, then remove the jumper as it
might damage the regulator. In this case, the logic supply of 5V to the
L298N IC is given through the third pin of the 3-pin screw terminal.

Arduino DC Motor Control using L298N

We will now see a simple circuit where we control the speed and direction
of a DC Motor using Arduino and L298N IC. You need few additional
components for this project and the complete list is given below. In the
Arduino DC Motor Control using L298N Project, we will control both the
functionalities of a simple DC Motor i.e. speed and direction of rotation
using a combination of PWM Signal and L298N (H-Bridge).

Circuit Diagram
Components Required

 Arduino UNO  [Buy Here]

 L298N Motor Driver Module  [Buy Here]
 12V DC Motor  
 100KΩ Potentiometer  
 Push Button  
 12V Power Supply  
 Breadboard  
 Connecting Wires  

Code

int mot1 = 8;

int mot2 = 9;
int en1 = 10;
int dir = 6;
bool state = true;
int nob = A0;
int val=0;

void setup()
{
pinMode(mot1,OUTPUT);
pinMode(mot2,OUTPUT);
pinMode(en1,OUTPUT);
pinMode(dir,INPUT_PULLUP);

void loop()
{

val = analogRead(nob);

analogWrite(en1, val / 4);

if(digitalRead(dir)==LOW)
 {
state=!state;
while(dir==LOW);
delay(300);
}
if(state)
{
digitalWrite(mot1,HIGH);
digitalWrite(mot2,LOW);
}
else
{
digitalWrite(mot1,LOW);
digitalWrite(mot2,HIGH);
}

Applications 
 Arduino DC Motor Control using L298N Motor Driver project can be
the beginning step of many advanced projects. 
 Almost all robots have wheels and we need to control the motors
connected to those wheels. Hence, any Arduino based robot can
implement this type of motor control using L298N. 
 Some of the Robotic Applications of L298N Motor Driver are Hand
Gesture Controlled Robot, Line Follower Robot, Obstacle Avoiding
Robot, etc.