best motor controller

[cooldog]

what is the best and cheapest motor controller to drive a 5v motor

or

is there a cheap motor controller that i can plug 2 5v motors in and have it have differential drive


also am i right: the motor wires plug into the motor controller and the motor controller has wires to plug into my reciver???

[SomeSaba]

reciever? So you're talking about using a wireless radio right?

[Ro-Bot-X]

I guess you are talking about a ESC (esc = electronic speed control). Do a search on google or yahoo.

[Steve Joblin]

I'm a big fan of Pololu's Dual Serial Motor Controller... Small, cheap, and easy to use (just send it a serial command to independently control the speed and direction of two DC motors).  They have a kit version, a pre-assembled version, and a suerface mount version.  Great Customer Service too!

[cooldog]

how do i make a serial command? so it will have differential drive

[Steve Joblin]

your microcontroller will send serial commands to your motor controller which will control the motors... I assumed you would be using a microcontroller.

[airman00]

I agree with Steve Joblin,

the Pololu Motor Controller is really good and easy to use 

[cooldog]

i wasn't planning to ( i don't know how to write programs ) i was just going to us my r/c reciver

[bens]

If you want something that can serve as an ESC or serial motor controller (or both), you could consider Pololu's TReX Jr.  You could start off making an RC robot and then later transition it to an autonomous serially controlled robot when you're more comfortable with programming microcontrollers.  One nice feature of the TReX is that you can easily switch between RC (or analog voltage) and serial control on the fly by using RC channel five.

[cooldog]

okay guys i think we are getting off topic all i want is something cheap to contol one 5v motor through my r/c controller. no programing

[bens]

The TReX Jr will control two bidirectional 5V motors (differential drive) as directed by your RC transmitter (no programming is required).  It also has the ability to control a third unidirecitonal motor.  Up to five channels from your RC receiver can be plugged into the board, which then connects to your motors.  I'm not sure if you consider $60 to be cheap, though.  Mainly I figured this could be a good investment for you if you ever plan on learning to program microcontrollers, but if that's not your eventual goal, this controller has features that may not be worth paying for if you can find a pure ESC for less.

[cooldog]

you can find a pure ESC for less.

where?

[bens]

if you can find a pure ESC for less.

I put the if in there because I personally have no idea.

[Spoil9]

Do a google search for 'RC Car Parts' and you'll find on line stores.
One that I like, and have bought from before is www.towerhobbies.com.
Your other option would be to buy a RC Car magazine and flip through there looking at the advertisments. Almost every single one will have a website now that you can look up prices.
Also, do a search for local hobby shops. I'm sure every town will have one near by. They may also have first hand knowledge of what your looking for.
Hope this helps.