Port Splitter for EV3 motors

Question

I have searched all over the internet for EV3 port splitters for motors. I have got 4 large motors and 2 medium motors and I do not have enough motor ports for them all. I can usually only find sensor port splitters which is not what I am looking for. I am looking for a MOTOR one. I have found one but I am not 100% sure if it is what I am looking for or not. Would anybody out there be able to tell me if I would be able to use this port splitter for NXT Digital Sensors?

I am also don't want to buy a Multiplexer for NXT/EV3 Motors because it is too expensive (and I need 2 of them).

If the one I mentioned above which might be a sensor one is not right can somebody out there give me a suggestion on a cheap and efficient port splitter for Lego EV3 motors?

Answer 1

It depends on what you're doing, but for this purpose the Mindsensors motor multliplexer is the device you are looking for - not the port splitter.

• A multiplexer (in this context) allows you to independently control/communicate with multiple devices over a single port, one at a time. A motor multiplexer will also need an external power source because a single EV3/NXT motor port cannot power multiple motors simultaneously.
• The Mindsensors port splitter simply joins the 6 wires from each plug to each other plug. This is generally less useful, because all connected devices simultaneously share the same power and signals. Analog sensors will behave unpredictably, I2C sensors might work (if the device supports reassigning its I2C address, and if you keep under the EV3 port's current limits). Motors will all receive power simultaneously, none of the rotation sensors will work, and you risk burning out the EV3's motor port.

Answer 2

According to this line from the description,

"It also has a pass-through Digital Sensor Port to connect more sensors/multiplexers. (On this sensor port, you can daisy-chain more multiplexers to connect additional motors.)"

...you would only need the multiplexer and a power source like the "6-AA Battery Holder with EV3 Mount; Model: BBX003" they have listed.

The first part you listed would work in a sense, but doesn't sound as useful. From the PDF:

"Up to three motors can be attached to SPLIT-Nx-v2. Turning motor port ON through the NXT program will turn all the attached motors ON at once. This is useful if you need to run all motors at once, however independent control of each attached motor is not possible and encoder values of the motors can not be used. i.e. rotation control feature of motor blocks can not be used. Also note that the power supplied to the motors will be limited by the power coming from the NXT brick."