The RoboClaw Solo is a single-channel brushed DC motor controller configured with BasicMicro’s free Motion Studio software. Setup takes four stages: wire the motor and optional encoder, connect power, install Motion Studio and connect over USB, and select a control mode. A Solo can be running a motor in under fifteen minutes.
What You Need
- 1× RoboClaw Solo motor controller
- 1× brushed DC motor (with quadrature encoder, optional)
- 1× battery or power supply
- 1× micro USB cable
- 1× computer running Windows 10 or 11 with Motion Studio installed
Wiring the Solo
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Wire a motor to the single channel of the Solo. The motor connections are the yellow and green wires on the Solo controller.
Figure 2: A motor wired to the Solo motor controller. -
If an encoder is being used, wire it to the controller. The signal pins of the encoder are wired to the 1A and 1B pins of the Solo’s pin header. If the encoder requires power, wire the positive connection to the 5V pin on the header and the ground connection to the header’s ground pin. See the pinout diagram below.
Figure 3: The pinout of the Solo motor controller. Signal lines are wired to the 1A and 1B pins. Figure 4: Power and signal lines of an encoder wired. -
Wire the power connections of the Solo to a battery or power supply. The red wire is the positive connection and the black wire is the negative connection. The battery settings for the Solo should be set according to Configuring RoboClaw Battery Settings.
Do not wire the power source backwards or the Solo will be permanently damaged.
Most power supplies cannot absorb the regenerative voltage a motor creates when decelerating. Setting the Solo’s Max Main Battery voltage about 2 VDC above the supply’s output voltage often resolves this. If overvoltage faults persist, a voltage clamp with a dump resistor may be required.
Figure 5: A connector wired to the power wires of the Solo. A connector is optional but useful when using a battery.
Installing Motion Studio
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Install Motion Studio by following Installing BasicMicro Motion Studio. Motion Studio installs from a single signed setup.exe, and no separate USB driver installation is required.
Turn on the Solo’s power source, then connect a micro USB cable between the Solo and the computer.
The Solo is not a USB powered device; the USB cable does not supply power to it. Power the Solo from its main power source before connecting the USB cable.
Testing the Motor and Encoder
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Open Motion Studio and connect to the Solo by clicking “Connect Selected Unit” in the upper left-hand side of the application. Click on “PWM Settings” in the left-hand pane. Find the box labeled “Control” and slide the slider for Motor 1. The motor should turn forwards when sliding the slider up and backwards when sliding down. If the motor turns the wrong direction, reverse the motor wiring or reverse the motor direction in the General Settings window.
Figure 6: The motor control sliders used to test a motor. -
If an encoder is being used, test it while still in the PWM Settings window. Move the Motor 1 slider forwards and backwards. The “M1 Encoder” value at the top of the window should increment when the motor moves forwards and decrement when it moves backwards. If the counts run the wrong direction, reverse the encoder signal connections.
Figure 7: The encoder count is at the top of the PWM Settings window. -
If an encoder is being used, the motor and encoder combination must be tuned for position control. See Auto Tuning with Motion Studio for instructions on auto-tuning. Be sure to use the PIV tuning method when auto-tuning for position control.
Setting the Control Mode
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The control mode must be set correctly for the mode of operation desired. Click on General Settings on the left-hand side of the application, locate the pane labeled Setup, and set the dropdown labeled Control Mode to the desired mode.
Control Mode Used With Packet Serial Microcontrollers via the Arduino, Python, C#, and ROS 2 libraries Simple Serial Microcontrollers, simplified command set RC RC radios and receivers Analog Joysticks, potentiometers, and other analog devices 
Figure 8: Setting the control mode. -
Save the settings to the board by clicking “Device” in the menu at the top of the application and then clicking “Write Settings”.
Figure 9: The device settings are saved from the Device menu.
Next Steps
More information on using each mode can be found in our application notes. Some additional wiring and software configuration must be done for some modes.
- Packet serial: Simple Arduino Control of the RoboClaw and Using the RoboClaw Arduino Library
- RC mode: RoboClaw RC Controlled Differential Drive Setup
- Analog mode: Analog Control with RoboClaw
