Diference betwwen a driver and a controller

[Joeterk]

Hi,

I need to move a DC motor using a microcontroller but I am confused.
Which is the difference between a Motor Driver and a Motor Controller ?

I need to move a DC ( 6 Volts % 3 Amp) motor in two directions and differents speeds
from a microcontroller. Are Drivers and Controller usefull for this purpose ?

Thanks, Joe

[Ben]

Hello, Joe.

As we say at the top of our motion control category:

Motor drivers are the simplest modules in the sense that all they do is provide power amplification for low-level control signals (e.g. PWM and direction) supplied by the user; on the other hand, that means that the master device to which the motor driver is connected must take care of the low-level, resource-consuming signal generation.

Motor controllers are motor drivers with additional intelligence: an on-board microcontroller generates the low-level signals and presents the user with higher-level interfaces and commands. For example, our dual serial motor controllers allow two DC motors to be controlled by a single serial line, and the master controller simply issues commands only when the speeds of the motors should be changed. Other motor controllers are even more complex, incorporating advanced acceleration commands, current sensing, feedback-based control, and more.

So in short, yes, you would find a motor driver or controller useful. The ideal one for your project depends on what kind of interface you are looking for.

- Ben

[Joeterk]

Thanks , But

I have an arduino and I would like to move a motor .

Which is better in your opinion the Motors Driver or the Motor Controller.

Thanks again.

[Ben]

It really all depends on how comfortable you are programming the Arduino. From your questions, it seems like you might be more on the beginner side of things, in which case I would recommend something like our dual VNH5019 motor driver shield for Arduino. It is probably overpowered for your particular motor, and it has two motor channels, but it is designed to work directly with an Arduino and we have an Arduino library available that makes it easy to use. Alternatively, you might consider our Simple Motor Controller 18v7, which is lower power and only has one motor channel. There is sample code in the SMC user’s guide for controlling it with an Arduino.

- Ben