ESP12E motorshield analogWrite issue when powering DC motor

Question

I am relatively new to adruino and this whole space. I am currently trying to power a DC motor using an ESP12E motor shield and an ESP8266 Module

Motor Shield - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078CPZDW1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

ESP8266 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010O1G1ES/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

DC Motor - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MTT7B88/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is my code

#define DIRA 0
#define PWMA 5
#define LED 2

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println();
  Serial.println("Starting...");


  Serial.println("Preparing motor...");
  pinMode(DIRA, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(PWMA, OUTPUT);
  analogWrite(PWMA,0);
  digitalWrite(DIRA,1);
  delay(5000);

  Serial.println("Starting motor...");
  analogWrite(PWMA,5);
  delay(5000);

}

void loop() {
}

Here is how I have wired it up

Note: This setup is similar to what I have but not exactly, I have 4 AA batteries connected and only 2 motors

I am expecting the motor to start once I upload this code but nothing is happening. If I change the analogWrite to digitalWrite, the motor runs but I want to be able to control the speed, rather than just having it run at one speed.

I have tested using analogWrite by changing the intensity of an LED and it was working, although the output pin was not the same as the one I use for the motor.

Would greatly appreciate any help as I have already gone through pages of google searches without any luck. I have been using this example as a reference, https://hackaday.io/project/8856-incubator-controller/log/29291-node-mcu-motor-shield.

Answer 1

This answer is the summary of the comments of the question. The idea of the solution was originally mentioned by @Majenko.

You powered the shield with about 6 Volts. The statement analogWrite(PWMA, 5); gives you (5/1024) ~ 0.5% of this 6 Volts at the output pin PWMA. This 0.03V are not enough to drive the motor.

You should use at least 3 Volts to drive the motor (as of the specs). This can be achieved by using a duty cycle of the PWM signal of about 50%. analogWrite(PWMA, 512); should do the trick.