Product advice for pid motor control

Hello,

I recently ordered two of these motors: pololu.com/product/2273

I would like to make a dual PID motor controller. Previously, I made my own PID controller using the DRV8801, driving a N20 motor with magnetic encoders, controlled by and arduino and some basic code.

This time, I want to be able to drive two of these motors, up to 6A, with encoders, and a way to measure current consumed by each motor.

I stumbled upon pololu.com/product/1213 (up to 3A, 5A peak)

Also, there are motor controllers like the jrk or or roboclaw. I understand with those, the PID and the encoder stuff will be built in.

I need little advice, especially from people who used the jrk family or the roboclaw. I would rather not implement PID on my own, but I also need many features like current measuring, and custom configurability for the pid controller.

Any ideas / recomendations / help will be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
C.B.

Hello.

As a general rule of thumb, we typically recommend using a motor driver with a continuous current rating equal to or greater than the stall current of your motor. Depending on your application, you might be able to use a jrk controller; please note that the jrk cannot do closed-loop position control with quadrature encoders, so it might not be appropriate for certain projects.

If you are using an Arduino Uno (or similar), you might consider using the VNH5019 Dual Motor Driver Shield to drive the motors. With this setup, you could use the Arduino to process the encoder signals. The VNH5019 shield also has a built-in current sense feature; however, if you want more accuracy, you might look into using our ACS714 Current Sensor Carrier -5A to +5A instead.

I am not as familiar with the RoboClaw since we do not manufacture them, but it can do closed-loop position control with a quadrature encoder and from the system you are describing, it sounds like it would be another option for your project.

-Brandon