Connecting L298N module with Arduino to Control DC Motors

To control one or two DC motors is quite easy. First connect each motor to the A and B

connections on the L298N module. If you're using two motors for a robot (etc) ensure that the

polarity of the motors is the same on both inputs. Otherwise you may need to swap them over

when you set both motors to forward and one goes backwards!

Next, connect your power supply - the positive to pin 4 on the module and negative/GND to

pin 5. If you supply is up to 12V you can leave in the 12V jumper (point 3 in the image

above) and 5V will be available from pin 6 on the module. This can be fed to your Arduino's

5V pin to power it from the motors' power supply. Don't forget to connect Arduino GND to

pin 5 on the module as well to complete the circuit.

Now you will need six digital output pins on your Arduino, two of which need to be PWM

(pulse-width modulation) pins. PWM pins are denoted by the tilde ("~") next to the pin

number, for example:

Finally, connect the Arduino digital output pins to the driver module. In our example we have

two DC motors, so digital pins D9, D8, D7 and D6 will be connected to pins IN1, IN2, IN3

and IN4 respectively. Then connect D10 to module pin 7 (remove the jumper first) and D5 to

module pin 12 (again, remove the jumper).

The motor direction is controlled by sending a HIGH or LOW signal to the drive for each

motor (or channel). For example for motor one, a HIGH to IN1 and a LOW to IN2 will cause

it to turn in one direction, and a LOW and HIGH will cause it to turn in the other direction.

However the motors will not turn until a HIGH is set to the enable pin (7 for motor one, 12 for

motor two). And they can be turned off with a LOW to the same pin(s). However if you need

to control the speed of the motors, the PWM signal from the digital pin connected to the

enable pin can take care of it..