Temperature rating for Pololu Dual G2 High-Power Motor Drivers for Raspberry Pi

Support Motor controllers/drivers and motors
1

Hi,
I’m still reasonably new to driving motors and curious about the temperature rating for any of the Pololu Dual G2 High-Power Motor Drivers for Raspberry Pi. For some background, I am looking at getting either the 18v18 or 24v14 to power 2 sets of motors which will draw approximately up to 10A per channel (including stalling), as the lower power dual motor driver is no longer suitable. The motors will be running wheels with PWM for a couple hours in a sheltered but warm (unsure but possibly 30C) and non-ventilated area, though may have a heatsink with a fan if required.

Considering these discrete mosfet drivers have no over-temperature protection, could the power dissipation of the drivers be significant even though the max current draw is below the driver’s rating and in the situation mentioned above? If not, would a heatsink and fan be too much (or recommended nonetheless)?

Also at what continuous current draw does power dissipation start becoming more of a issue (requiring cooling or rest), assuming for a standard non-air-conditioned room? Is this just above the labelled ratings?

2

Hello.

You have a pretty wide safety margin, so I think you should be fine even in the ambient environment you described as long as it is not too tight. However, if you are operating your driver in a tightly enclosed space with still air, then that could heat up a lot and cause a significant drop in the maximum current that you can get out of the board. If that is the case, you might want to upgrade to our higher-power 18v22 or 24v18 or do some testing to see if you need to add a fan and/or heatsink.

Our current ratings for those drivers are for what our testing shows the drivers can handle continuously in a temperature controlled room. We would not expect the drivers to work continuously above those ratings in a similar environment without a heat sink or forced air flow. Similarly, our ratings do not account for the effects of adverse environmental conditions, like higher ambient temperatures.

- Patrick