3.5 Small Fan

Now we use the TA6586 to drive the DC motor to make it rotate clockwise and counterclockwise. Since the DC motor requires a relatively large current, for safety reasons, here we use a power module to supply power to the motor.

• DC Motor

• TA6586 - Motor Driver Chip

• Power Supply Module

Required Components

In this project, we need the following components.

It’s definitely convenient to buy a whole kit, here’s the link:

Name	ITEMS IN THIS KIT	LINK
Kepler Kit	450+	Kepler Kit

You can also buy them separately from the links below.

SN	COMPONENT	QUANTITY	LINK
1	Raspberry Pi Pico W	1	BUY
2	Micro USB Cable	1
3	Breadboard	1	BUY
4	Jumper Wires	Several	BUY
5	TA6586 - Motor Driver Chip	1
6	DC Motor	1	BUY
7	Li-po Charger Module	1
8	18650 Battery	1
9	Battery Holder	1

Schematic

Wiring

Note

• Since DC motors require a high current, we use a Li-po Charger module to power the motor here for safety reasons.

• Make sure your Li-po Charger Module is connected as shown in the diagram. Otherwise, a short circuit will likely damage your battery and circuitry.

Code

Note

• Open the 3.5_small_fan.py file under the path of kepler-kit-main/micropython or copy this code into Thonny, then click “Run Current Script” or simply press F5 to run it.

• Don’t forget to click on the “MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico)” interpreter in the bottom right corner.

• For detailed tutorials, please refer to Open and Run Code Directly.

import machine
import utime

motor1A = machine.Pin(14, machine.Pin.OUT)
motor2A = machine.Pin(15, machine.Pin.OUT)

def clockwise():
    motor1A.high()
    motor2A.low()

def anticlockwise():
    motor1A.low()
    motor2A.high()

def stopMotor():
    motor1A.low()
    motor2A.low()

while True:
    clockwise()
    utime.sleep(1)
    stopMotor()
    utime.sleep(1)
    anticlockwise()
    utime.sleep(1)
    stopMotor()
    utime.sleep(1)

Once the program is running, the motor will rotate back and forth in a regular pattern.

Note

• If the motor is still spinning after you click the Stop button, you need to reset the RUN pin on the Pico W with a wire to GND at this time, and then unplug this wire to run the code again.

• This is because the motor is operating with too much current, which may cause the Pico W to disconnect from the computer.