L293D motor shield

L293D is a monolithic integrated, high voltage, high current, 4-channel driver. Basically this means using this chip you can drive DC motors with power supply up to 36 Volts, and the chip can supply a maximum current of 600mA per channel. L293D chip is also known as a type of H-Bridge. The H-Bridge is typically an electrical circuit that enables a voltage to be applied across a load in either direction to an output, e.g. motor.

Technical Specification

• 2 connections for 5V 'hobby' servos connected to the Arduino's high-resolution dedicated timer - no jitter!
• Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-bit speed selection (so, about 0.5% resolution)
• Up to 2 stepper motors (unipolar or bipolar) with single coil, double coil, interleaved or micro-stepping.
• 4 H-Bridges: L293D chipset provides 0.6A per bridge (1.2A peak) with thermal shutdown protection, 4.5V to12V
• Pull down resistors keep motors disabled during power-up
• Big terminal block connectors to easily hook up wires (10-22AWG) and power
• Arduino reset button brought up top
• 2-pin terminal block to connect external power, for separate logic/motor supplies