I intend on using an arduino nano connected to the TB6612FNG to run a firgelli L16 150:1 actuator that stalls at 0.6A. This will all be powered (for testing) with a wall-wart (120VAC to 12VDC filtered and regulated) power supply. Ultimately it will be battery powered via rechargable battery pack but for now the wall adapter will be used. I haven’t used one of these before and am wondering if I will burn out the board or what might need to be done to not cook it. As in the title, it is outputting 14.2 vdc at 120 vac input.
Hello.
We rate the maximum motor supply voltage at 13.5V, which is below the 15V maximum input for the TB6612FNG chip. We do this because voltage spikes well above the steady state output voltage are common in electronic systems like this and can be difficult to eliminate. I recommend using a power supply with a lower output voltage than your current wall wart to leave yourself a larger safety margin. We have a support document that has a few tips for reducing the magnitude of LC voltage spikes in a system, though it can be difficult to characterize the behavior of a system without testing it with an oscilloscope.
You might also consider our DRV8801 motor driver, which has a similar current rating and a much higher input voltage rating, though it only controls a single motor. If you need to control two of those linear actuators, the A4990 Dual Motor Driver Carrier has a lower current limit, but it should still work with .6A stall current rating of those motors and also has a higher voltage rating.
-Nathan
Thanks for the reply. I prototyped the circuit on a breadboard and wrote enough code to make the actuator move with a pushbutton. I also noted that the sparkfun version of the board is rated at 15V, same as the chip. It seems to work fine. For how long at the higher voltage, who knows.