The Pi has a 5 volt output. This DC motor draws about 600 mA when it is stalled. Is it safe to power the DC motor using the Pi's 5 volt output pin? If not, can I power it with a microusb charger?
2 Answers
Do NOT try to power it from a GPIO.
Yes, you can power the motor from the 5V pin (although it looks like a servo the blurb makes clear it is just an ordinary DC motor in a servo like housing).
However, if you do so the motor will run at a fixed speed in a fixed direction.
If you want to control the direction and/or speed you will need to connect it via a motor driver board, google for L9110S or L298N.
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So power via the 5V pin but switched by a mosfet connected to a GPIO? You probably need a protection diode as well to stop back EMF killing the mosfet. That will give you speed control if you use PWM on the GPIO. This seems to be becoming a different question.– joanJan 30, 2016 at 15:00
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the question is can a power a motor through the 5 V gpio pin. I didn't ask about control, but you brought it up.– PyRulezJan 30, 2016 at 15:01
well there is a way to power a DC motor with only 5 volts from GPIO pins. first you will deed a 5 volt motor and and attach a small arm or Popsicle stick and make the arm face a button, that button controls the negative side of a different power source that matches the voltage of your DC motor to that when you make the 5V motor turn to press the button it allows the power from a different power source to power your DC motor. you will have to code the motor to be inverted when you do not want the DC motor to go forward.
