Control Motor Speeds With a Raspberry Pi Pico
The Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller board offers so much flexibility for enthusiasts to explore electronics projects to increase their technical knowledge. These may range from DIY home monitoring to simple weather monitoring stations. Learning the basics will provide you with a solid knowledge base so that you may confidently work toward more complex tasks.
Let’s explore how you can use a transistor and a motor to generate wind power using a Raspberry Pi Pico.
How to Connect the Hardware
The wiring isn’t complex; however, there are a few steps where you’ll need to be certain that your pins are connected correctly With that in mind, let’s break down how the components are being connected between the Raspberry Pi Pico and your breadboard.
- The Pico’s GP15 pin will need to be connected to one end of the resistor.
- A GND pin on the Pico will be routed to the negative rail on the breadboard.
- Place the transistor in front of the negative side of the motor’s terminal connector and route a wire from the negative side of the transistor to the negative rail of the breadboard.
- Double-check that the wiring is lined up correctly with the motor’s terminal connector (this is important).
- The Pico’s VSYS pin will need to connect to the positive rail on the breadboard. This will ensure that 5V of power is being delivered, via the transistor, to the motor (versus other Pico pins with only 3.3V).
While you’re making your final wiring checks, make sure that a jumper wire is connected from the breadboard’s positive rail to the positive side of the motor’s terminal connector. Additionally, the other end of the resistor will need to be connected to the middle pin of the transistor. If it’s not obvious yet, be sure to connect the negative and positive wires correctly from the terminal connector to the motor as well.
Read More: Control Motor Speeds With a Raspberry Pi Pico – MakeUseOf