Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: szhang on September 30, 2008, 09:55:23 PM

Title: buy motor driver or build?
Post by: szhang on September 30, 2008, 09:55:23 PM

The project i'm working on, the DC motors idles at around 250mA, load at around 1-2A, and stalls at ~7-8A.  So right now i'm trying to decide between whether to get 4 mosfets, some drivers etc and build a H-bridge, or to get a motor driver like http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/711

One one hand, the motor driver is easier, probably has more features, but it is probably cheaper to build a high-current h-bridge.

Any thoughts or comments?  Anyone know of a cheaper motor driver than the one I linked?

Title: Re: buy motor driver or build?
Post by: ArcMan on October 01, 2008, 08:05:29 AM

For this small of a load, you don't need a discrete MOSFET H-bridge.  I would use an LM18200.  Better yet, get an LM18200 kit from Anykits.com for $15.

http://www.anykits.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=46_70&products_id=436 (http://www.anykits.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=46_70&products_id=436)

Somebody pointed me to them the other day.  They have great little kits for stuff like this.

Title: Re: buy motor driver or build?
Post by: Admin on October 08, 2008, 05:41:08 AM

I strongly recommend *not* making your own driver, as there are many out in the market to buy that'll cost you just as much but save you tons of time and work much better too.