DRV8833 Dual Motor Driver on Arduino: Simulator

At a glance

The Motor driver, DRV8833 in brief

What it is, and where it sits on the bench.

The DRV8833 is TI’s small dual H bridge, on the Adafruit and Pololu-style breakouts and the red kit module: two DC motors from a single 2.7 to 10.8 V supply on VM, which runs the chip too. Each motor has two inputs, AIN1 and AIN2 or BIN1 and BIN2, and two outputs; there is no enable pin. The inputs read high at 2 V and low at 0.7 V whatever VM is, so an Uno’s PWM pins or an ESP32’s 3.3 V GPIOs drive them, and each has a 100 k pull-down. Mokxi models TI’s logic table (both low coasts, one high drives, both high brakes), the SLP pin with its 1 ms wake, which the breakout pulls up so it can stay unwired, the 2.6 V undervoltage lockout, and 0.18 ohm a side in each bridge, so a battery on VM really supplies the motor current. The classic mistake is forgetting the ground shared between the battery and the board. Current limiting, overcurrent and thermal shutdown are not modeled, so FLT never goes low.

Family: Outputs
Pins: 12

Pins

12 pins

Named as the editor names them, so a wire lands where you expect it.

What it does

VM

The motor supply, 2.7 V to 10.8 V. The chip runs from it too.

GND

Ground, shared with the board that drives the inputs.

SLP

Sleep, active low. Pulled up on the breakout, so leave it unwired to run.

FLT

The fault output, open drain. Nothing in a Mokxi circuit trips it.

AIN1

Motor A's two inputs.

AIN2

Motor A's two inputs.

BIN1

Motor B's two inputs.

BIN2

Motor B's two inputs.

AOUT1

Motor A.

AOUT2

Motor A.

BOUT1

Motor B.

BOUT2

Motor B.

How to use it

How to use the DRV8833 motor driver with an Arduino

AIN1 and AIN2 to pins 5 and 6 for the left motor, BIN1 and BIN2 to pins 9 and 10 for the right, VM to the 6 V of four AA cells, and GND shared with the Uno. The motors go on AOUT1 and AOUT2 and on BOUT1 and BOUT2. SLP is pulled up on the breakout, so it can stay unwired.

There is no enable pin. Hold one input low and analogWrite the other: that is drive and coast in turn, and the duty is the speed. Swap which input gets the PWM to reverse. Both inputs low lets the motor coast, and both high brakes it, which is what the bumper car does for 150 ms before it backs away from a wall.

Part pin

Board pin

AIN1

Pin 5

AIN2

Pin 6

BIN1

Pin 9

BIN2

Pin 10

VM

6 V battery

GND

The inputs read high at 2 V and low at 0.7 V whatever VM is, so an ESP32’s 3.3 V GPIOs drive a DRV8833 as well as an Uno does.

Arduino Uno: bumper carlive0.000 s 0.00x

Hold the button

This is the simulator itself, running here. Click anything to open it in the editor.

Open this project in the editor Read the full tutorial

One motor as a signed speed, from the bumper car

void motor(int in1, int in2, int speed) {
  if (speed >= 0) {
    digitalWrite(in2, LOW);
    analogWrite(in1, speed > 255 ? 255 : speed);
  } else {
    digitalWrite(in1, LOW);
    analogWrite(in2, -speed > 255 ? 255 : -speed);
  }
}

How it is modeled

What is true about the Motor driver, DRV8833, here

In its help article’s own words: what the simulation gets right, and where it stops.

Modeled

The logic table, including the coast the L9110S does not have.
The input thresholds and pull-downs, the sleep pin and its 1 ms wake.
0.18 ohm a side in each bridge. With a battery on VM the bridges join the analog solve, so the motor current comes out of the pack.