I am new to the robotics world. I am looking for motor controllers that can be controlled with an arduino board or a computer interface. I am trying to build something similar to a electric wheelchair. The motors we have right now are brushless 12Vdc motors with normal current of about 30AMP. Is there a motor controller that would fit my need?
Edmund Lo
Hello, Edmund,
Unfortunately, we do not currently have any controllers for brushless motors.
- Kevin
Actually, I made a mistake. I have a brushed motor
I was looking through the products section and found this pololu.com/catalog/product/1381
Would this one work for my application? Can this controller controller 2 motors?
Edmund Lo
Hello.
The Simple Motor Controllers can each only control a single motor, but you can easily pair two units to drive two motors. Unfortunately, the 18v25 version can only deliver up to 25 A of continuous current, and it sounds like your motor will be drawing at least 30 A. Is this what you meant by “normal current”? You might be able to make it work if you add a heat sink and possibly a fan to keep the driver cool (with appropriate cooling, you could potentially deliver a continuous 40 A without overheating), but we don’t provide any support for such modifications.
- Ben
Thanks for all your input. My motor specification says it draws max 27A at normal load. Here is the full specification sheet. docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= … MGQ1&hl=en
Edmund Lo
That link doesn’t work for me. Do you have a way of measuring how much current your motor draws at 12 V?
- Ben
I have tested my motor at 12V free spin, no load. It draws about 2.7A. But I am not sure how much it will actually draw after i mount it on my application
docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= … y=CKLv4OAJ
This link should work.
Edmund Lo
Well, if you can keep the load below around 60 oz-in, the Simple Motor Controller 18v25 should be able to drive the motor without overheating, but you should note all of our drivers are rather underpowered for that motor; you won’t be able to get anywhere near full power out of the motor when using them. Your motor is capable of a stall torque of 343 oz-in, at which point it will draw 133 A, which is well above what the 18v25 can deliver for any appreciable duration.
Before considering our 18v15, you should figure out just how much torque (and therefore how much current) your motor needs. You can decrease the current draw by decreasing the motor voltage or, equivalently, restricting the motor driver maximum speed to something under 100%. If you end up using the 18v25, you should take advantage of its built-in acceleration limiting feature to minimize the current spikes that arise from starting from rest or changing directions abruptly.
- Ben
