DRI0044 Dual Motor Driver(TB6612)

Support Raspberry Pi
1

Hi All,
First up, I am a newbie to this world of RPi, Python, motors and stuff. I am slowly learning, mostly concentrating on motors for some simple robotics.
I can generally manage to work my way through the
the problems by searching online.
My problem at the moment is,I have purchased, from Core Elects, a DRI0044 Dual Motor Driver(TB6612) to drive two Dagu DC motors . I am unable to find any info on wiring to my RPi 3B by searching online.

I can find some that must be using an earlier version of TB6612 which has 2x GPIO (‘inA1/inB1,inA2/inB2’) outputs ,“PWM” and “Standby” per motor.
The DRI0044 I have been supplied has 2 only outputs per motor. DIR1 , PWM 1 and DIR2 ,PWM2
( plus VCC ,VM(12V) and 2xGND)
So , I am in need off assistance to get my GPIO connected to the DRI0044 and some code to use to get motor control .
Hoping someone can help
Cheers
Trev

2

Hi Trevor.
The picture I am looking at for CoreElectronics SKU DR10044 shows quite clearly Dir 1, PWM 1, Dir 2, PWM 2 Which will be direction and speed control for motors 1 & 2. Gnd & VCC for logic supply. M1+, M1-, M2+, M2-, Gnd & VM (<12V) which are connections to the 2 motors and motor power (less than 12V).
Cheers Bob

3

Thankyou for the quick reply Bob, much apreciated.
I need to know how to connect the DIR1\2 and PWM1\2 to the RPi.
Do the single DIR1/DIR2 wires carry both “True” and “False” signals for each motor?
Wiring diag would be great.

How is the “GPIO.setup” written ?

As I said , I am pretty new to RPi and robotics, I don’t mind doing the search but I cannot find much info on this driver. Still looking.
Cheers
Trev

4

I suppose you would say they do. A “0” would allow drive one way and “1” reverses the direction as “Dir” implies. PWM is the Pulse Width Modulation signal to control motor speed.

Check the product Wiki at the bottom of the product description (Core Electronics site). This relates to Arduino so you need to adapt to RPi. Bear in mind I think the Raspberry device is 3.3V logic so a logic level converter may be required. Sample Arduino sketch is there also.

I don’t know much about these Raspberry or Strawberry things but reading this forum I don’t particularly want to know either. The whole set up seems a bit flaky to me. Lots of band aids out there. I stress this is only MY take on things. All these wobbly bits and patches are pretty good for learning but I am getting a bit long in the tooth for much of that. Sorry.
Cheers Bob

5

Thanks again Bob, grateful for your assstance.
I, like yourself , am also getting a bit long in the tooth. I bought myself a 3D Printer kit a few years back ,a retirement project. It took awhile but got there, now I want to do some compatable robot stuff w/- RPi .
Trying to get some grandkids interested.
I don’t know how I missed the Arduino bit you pointed out, I may be able to work with that.
Thanks
Cheers
Trev