This is an upgraded version of the popular Dagu Mini Driver board. Like its predecessor, this is an Arduino compatible board that also includes 2 H bridges capable of driving either 2 DC motors with a stall current of 2.5A, or 1 stepper motor with a peak current of 2.5A per winding. On top of that, it also has pins for driving up to 8 servo motors, and a port to connnect a Bluetooth or Xbee module.

The big improvment that the Mini Driver MkII offers is that it uses an ATmega328 microcontroller instead of the ATmega8A. This means that you have much more space for your robot control programs (32KB vs 8KB) and means that the Mini Driver MkII is effectively and Arduino Uno, with the functionality of a motor shield, for a really good price!

Please Note: The MkII is not completely pin compatible with the original Mini Driver. This is because Dagu moved some of the pins around to make the MkII Mini Driver compatible with Scratch 4 Arduino (S4A). Please see the manuals below for details on which pins have changed.

Please Note: The manual claims that this board comes loaded with the Arduino Uno bootloader. However, the ones we have have the Arduino Nano bootloader. There is very little difference between these bootloaders, so it should make no difference to the programs you can write. It's just something to keep in mind when selecting the board type in the Arduino IDE.

Features

• Compatible with the Arduino IDE the board uses the Arduino Nano w/ ATmega328 Bootloader.
• ATmega328P processor @ 16MHz with 32K FLASH, 2K SRAM and 1K EEPROM.
• 2 H bridges - Capable of 2.5A peak current each.
• Pin configuration is compatible with S4A (Scratch 4 Arduino V1.5).
• Motor controller pins can be isolated and used as standard digital and PWM pins.
• 6V - 9V operation with reverse polarity protection.
• Battery voltage monitor on A7.
• Pins for up to 8 servos.
• Expansion port for use with a Bluetooth or Xbee module
• CP2102 USB serial interface with Mini-B USB socket and 500mA PTC fuse.
• Built in power Switch and Reset button.
• Digital pins on servo compatible 3 pin headers with selectable voltage (+Battery or +5V).
• Analog pins on servo compatible 3 pin headers with +5V and Gnd to power sensors.
• D13 LED.
• ISP header.
• Mounting holes are 50mm x 25mm (aprox. 2" x 1") can use 3mm or 1/8th screws.

Useful Links

Manual

Manual for the original Mini Driver (useful for seeing the changes)

To use this board with Windows you'll need to download and install the drivers here