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My setup is as follows:

  • Using this motor controller board, I have one DC motor (I'm new to electronics, so I'm not sure when I say it's rated at 1.5V, because one 1.5V AA battery on its own makes it run perfectly). This motor is connected to the OUT1 and OUT2 terminals on the H-bridge.

  • I have one 1.5V AA battery, with its positive end connected to the VCC terminal, and it's negative end connected to the GND terminal. The RPi's +5V GPIO is connected to the +5V terminal, and the RPi's ground is connected to the GND terminal as well.

  • GPIO pins 15 and 13 are connected to IN1 and IN2, respectively. I am using this tutorial setup (with the code at 14:30, in case it didn't skip there. I do not have pins 7 and 11 in use, because I'm only controlling one motor).

After all of this, the motor does not run. I don't even know how to test where the problem lies. I have tried it with 2 and 3 batteries, still to no avail. I have also tried switching to IN3 and IN4, and even switching around the (True and False) parameters in the GPIO.output() function. Am I doing something wrong at all? I have nearly the exact same setup as the tutorial, with a few differences. Thank you for any help! :)

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The motor driver board says VCC (motor supply voltage) should be between 5 and 35 volts.

From what you say you are only supplying about 1.5 volts.

Try 3 to 5 cells in series to get (say) between 4.5 to 7.5 volts.

If you can, use a multimeter to measure the voltages you are supplying.

It is probably best to remove the Pi 5V connection. Leave the Pi ground connection in place.

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  • Thanks for the reply! I removed the Pi's 5V connection and I'm using 5 batteries, still nothing :( The LED on the motor driver board doesn't turn on unless the Pi's 5V connection is in, not sure if that matters either
    – Shadow
    Mar 29, 2015 at 17:53
  • Are the batteries in series? You really need a multimeter. If the LED doesn't light that suggests the batteries are not supplying enough power.
    – joan
    Mar 29, 2015 at 17:59
  • Yep they are! I feel like a fool for asking, but should the negative/positive end of the series be connected to GND and VCC, respectively, or the 5V terminal and VCC respectively?
    – Shadow
    Mar 29, 2015 at 18:07
  • The battery -ve to GND, battery +ve to VCC. Pi GND to GND.
    – joan
    Mar 29, 2015 at 18:09
  • Yep that's how I have it, it's solved now! I am ashamed to say I didn't see that the battery pack had a broken metal contact and it wasn't in contact with one of the batteries in the series, I've been at this for two days and this was the reason aha, thanks a lot for your patience appreciate it :) it needed 4 batteries minimum!
    – Shadow
    Mar 29, 2015 at 18:38

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