The L298N is a dual-channel H-Bridge motor driver capable of driving a pair of DC motors. it means it can individually drive up to two motors making it ideal for building two-wheel robot platforms.
The L298N motor driver module is powered through 3-pin 3.5mm-pitch screw terminals. It consists of pins for motor power supply(Vs), ground and 5V logic power supply(Vss).
The L298N motor driver IC actually has two input power pins viz. ‘Vss’ and ‘Vs’.
From Vs pin, the H-Bridge gets its power for driving the motors which can be 5 to 35V. Vss is used for driving the logic circuitry which can 5 to 7V. And they both sink to a common ground named ‘GND’.
The module has an on-board 78M05 5V regulator from STMicroelectronics. It can be enabled or disabled through a jumper.
When this jumper is in place, the 5V regulator is enabled, supplying logic power supply(Vss) from the motor power supply(Vs). In this case, the 5V input terminal acts as an output pin and delivers 5V 0.5A. You can use it to power up the Arduino or other circuitry that requires a 5V power supply.
