“Debug” a DRV8833

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I am trying to control a DC Motor with a DRV8833. To be precise, I have this module from MJKDZ (which, I believe, is not the original one from TI).

I measure the voltage on the input pins, they are as expected, but the output pins have 0 V. My input pins have those values:

GND :  0 V (connected to ground)
VCC : +5 V (from a battery power)
IN1 : HIGH (+3.7 V from an ESP32).
IN2 : LOW  (0 V)
IN3 : not connected
IN4 : not connected

Every output pin has 0V (including “ULT”, which may indicate a fault condition). All grounds (ESP32, battery, etc) are connected.

I am wondering how I can “debug” what’s going wrong.

Do you think I may have overheated it while soldering the pin sockets (I learned soldering when I was a kid from my father probably like many of you, but I didn’t do it for a while and now I am terrible at it)? Or could it be an over-current issue?

So, just to be sure that the issue is really on this particular module, could I try connecting an even simpler circuit like this (basically excluding things related to ESP32):

GND :  0 V (connected to ground)
VCC : +5 V from regular power
IN1 : +5 V from regular power (HIGH)
IN2 :  0 V (connected to ground) (LOW)
IN3 : not connected
IN4 : not connected

and expect the potential difference between OUT1 and OUT2 to be 5 V ?motor-controllershareedit  follow  flag asked 8 hours agoOnur Celebi1111 bronze badge New contributor

• 1It looks like You burned it somehow – fifi_22 7 hours ago
• 1Have you connected the “EEP” pin to anything? I’m assuming that this pin corresponds to the DRV8833’s SLEEP pin (in the same way that ‘ULT’ probably corresponds to FAULT). According to the DRV8833 datasheet that pin has an internal pull-down, which will disable the device if left unconnected. – brhans 6 hours ago
• 1A key problem here is that you are not asking about the chip itself, but rather about a mystery module, and so leaving key details of the chip connection unspecified. We might also ask if the module is correctly manufactured with the chip well aligned and soldered; we could even ask if the chip installed is actually a DRV8833 at all. – Chris Stratton 5 hours ago
• @Onur Celebi, Welcome and nice to meet you. And let me see. Your question is “How to debug a DRV8833?. Let me introduce myself. I have many hours playing with a similar motor driver called L298N, and I think it is the best for poor hobbyist like. But then I heard people saying that DRV8833 is even better. I don’t believe if there is any thing better than L298N. So I am going to prove it wrong. First thing first is to read the friendly manual. Then I would see if I can help you debugging the thing. See you later. – tlfong01 1 hour ago   
• A couple of moths ago I played with L298N and made a summary. I also included some references on DRV8833. Comparing DC motor drivers – EESE, 2020jul16 electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/510755/…. Part C – PWM H-bridge Motor Driver References: (13.14) TaoBao DRV8837 DC Motor Driver Module 1.8A Dual Half Bridge – ¥8 (13.15) TaoBao DRV8833 DC Motor Driver (Replacing TB6612FNG) – ¥9 (13.16) AliEXpresss DRV8837 DC Motor Module Dual 1.8A – US$15 (13.17) Adafruit DRV8871 (45V 3.6A) DC Motor Driver Breakout – tlfong01 1 hour ago    
• You might like to let me know which of the four DRV8833 in my references list is identical or looks the same as yours, so I can try to tailor my answer to your specific driver board. I can also search my junk box for any DRV8833 and upload it in my prospective answer, to make our live answer chatting easier. – tlfong01 54 mins ago   
• Ha sorry, I forgot that you actually included a link to your DRV8833 module. So I will try to answer tailored to your module MJKDZ DRV8833 Motor Driver Module ardushop.ro/en/home/799-modul-driver-motoare-drv8833.html – tlfong01 49 mins ago   
• I think I have collected enough data to start answering your question. I will be going a bit slow, because I have no experience at all in DRV8833, though my good experience in L298N should help me go faster. – tlfong01 41 mins ago   

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Question

How to debug a DRV8833?

Answer

Introduction

(1) This is a live answer in Agile (sort of chatting over) to solve a debugging/troubleshooting problem.

The OP and all readers are welcome to interrupt any time to ask questions to clarify things, suggest ways to improve my answer, and point our my mistakes.

Short Answer

(1) To debug the motor driver, first thing first to read the following:

(a) Product sheet of the assembled breakout module to get a rough idea of the power requirements and function of the pin outs (which might be different from the chip datasheet.

(b) Datasheet of the chip, to get a rough idea of what external components are used to assemble the module.

(c) Schematic of the module.

To make the OP’s question more specified, (a) to (c) above is appended to his the question.

/ to continue, …

Long Answer

to continue, …

References

(1) DRV8833 Module Driver Module – Ardushop €1.28 (This is the OP’s driver module)

(2) DRV8833 Dual H-Bridge Motor Driver – TI 2011/2015 (The datasheet of DRV8833 by TI)

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