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recommendations for tamiya gearbox motor drivers

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By newbiegalore

February 8, 2012

As my name suggests i'm a newbie looking for some advice. I have a tamiya gearbox with two dc motors with suggested operating voltage of 3V. To control these motors i want to connect a ready made h-bridge ic or create my own using some transistors. I'd rather just buy the h-bridge ic to save time but i have some tip transistors if needed.

I have a pic board that outputs 3.3V logic so the driver needs to be compatible with that. The SN754410 seems to make some sense and there's this L298 or L293...etc. There's not many native 3.3V ones around. 

Does anyone have any recommendations

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By DaveyJones
@ Thu, 2012-02-09 08:55
DaveyJones's picture

pololu has alternative motors u can put in the gearbox:

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1117

this may extend your driver options a bit...

 

By meanpc
@ Wed, 2012-02-08 13:18
Just noticed the part about 3.3 volts. According to Sparkfun, the TB6612FNG will work: Logic supply voltage (VCC) can be in the range of 2.7-5.5VDC, while the motor supply (VM) is limited to a maximum voltage of 15VDC. The output current is rated up to 1.2A per channel (or up to 3.2A for a short, single pulse).
By newbiegalore
@ Thu, 2012-02-09 06:01

thanks, i like this one too

By meanpc
@ Wed, 2012-02-08 13:08
I used the Pololu dual Dc motor driver with my Tamiya twin gearbox. This breakout board has a Toshiba TB6612FNG driver chip. I've had excellent results, here's a link to a blog post I wrote about it if you want more info. http://www.meanpc.com/2012/01/how-to-use-tb6612fng-motor-driver-with.html I've also heard good things about the L293d based drivers, but I've never used one for myself.
By ChuckCrunch
@ Wed, 2012-02-08 11:47
ChuckCrunch's picture

its cheap and a good choice and for these motors , ive jammed 6V into the tamiya gear box them they seam to handle it for short burst, but running them continuously at 6V the plastic end tend to melt 

ho the chip needs 2 levels of power

1 logic 5V , this is to power the chip it's self

and motor power whatever your motors are rated at, 3.3V in your case

im sorry im setting you some home work :P  power regulators L7805 or lm317, read up on them this is bread and butter stuff and you will need it and PMW (pulse width modulation ) this is used for speed control . stall current this is the amount of Amps the motor pulls when the motor is stop wile running 

i could go on 

note there are alot of info on LMR the search page find it use it . far smarter people than i have spent time writing tips and how to's if you have a question start there look for part numbers or product names

welcome to LMR   

 

By ignoblegnome
@ Thu, 2012-02-09 16:25
ignoblegnome's picture

Also, the L293D and similar bipolar transistor driven motor ICs will have a significant voltage drop (about 1.5V). So if you feed in 4.5V from three AA batteries, for example, you'll get about 3V out to drive your motors.

By newbiegalore
@ Thu, 2012-02-09 05:41

oh i definitely know all about pwm, power for motor...etc, i'm not a complete newbie :)

thanks for the info and recommendations