Roboclaw Motor Drivers

Support Motor controllers/drivers and motors
1

Hi

I am planning to buy roboclaw motor controllers (2x30A) to drive my 24V motors. However I was wondering, if they spport the coasting function. I believe the command 0 in simple serial mode should imply coasting of motors, however I wanted to be sure before i invest my money on these controllers.

Can you please confirm if they do support coasting.

Thanks
Udit

2

Hi, Udit.

The RoboClaw documentation makes it sound like that command results in coasting, but I do not have any information beyond that. You might consider contacting Orion Robotics directly for confirmation.

- Zeeshan

3

What about analog inputs? Do you think if we can implement coasting using analog (filtered PWM) inputs.

I was also considering using Pololu’s simple motor controllers (the one which seem to be analogous to the simple high power motor drivers from pololu). I like their features, but was not sure if we can control them using filtered PWM. Also, is it possible to implement coasting using analog inputs or serial inputs in them?

Thanks
Udit

4

We do not have any additional information for the RoboClaw motor controller beyond what is available in the datasheet, which is located on the product page under the “Resources” tab.

As for the Simple Motor Controller, it can be controlled using an analog voltage source (e.g. filtered PWM) if you check the “Ignore Pot Disconnect” checkbox under the “Advanced Settings” tab of the Simple Motor Control Center. For implementing coasting while in analog mode, the controller has a “Speed zero brake amount” setting that controls how strongly to brake the motor when the “Current Speed” is set to “0”, so you can use this setting to make the motor coast when speed is “0”.

Separately, if you are controlling the Simple Motor Controller over serial, there is a command for variable braking that allows you to switch between coasting or braking at anytime. If your setup is capable of performing serial control, then I recommend using serial mode instead of analog mode.

You might consider checking out the Simple Motor Controller user’s guide for more information.

- Zeeshan