Control Large Gearmotors with PWM & Arduino

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is the ideal method of controlling large DC gearmotors, but driving these motors can often be challenging and expensive. Today I will show you an inexpensive and efficient H-Bridge motor controller – the Cytron MD10C.

I’ll also show you how raising the PWM frequency can make your motor controller design far more efficient.

Article with code: https://dbot.ws/dcpwm
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We have used PWM to control small DC motors many times but what happens when you need to control a bigger motor? The L298N is the usual “go-to” motor controller but it doesn’t have the current capability to handle anything that draws over 3.5 amperes., so it won’t work with large motors.

Most large H-Bridge controllers are expensive, many cost as much or even more than the motor they are driving. But there are a few inexpensive options, and I’ve got a great one for you today.

The Cytron MD10C is a single-motor H-Bridge controller that can support motors that draw up to 13 amperes continuous, with peaks of up to 30 amperes! Amazingly this device is not only cheap, it also is so efficient that it doesn’t even require a heatsink to source those impressive current levels.

It is a very easy controller to use with an Arduino. I’ll show you how to hook it up as well as how to code for it. But it doesn’t stop there.

We’ll put our motor controller to the test and observe its performance. I will then “fine-tune” it to run a LOT more efficiently, and I’ll demonstrate its capabilities by driving a 10 Kg (22 lb) weight around the room!

We’ll then look at an improved Arduino design to control our DC gearmotors with.

Here what we will cover in today’s video:

News from DroneBot Workshop – 0:31
H-Bridge Design – 3:04
Cytron MD10C – 4:57
Arduino PWM Sketch – 8:03
Arduino PWM Test – 13:57
Hi Frequency PWM Test – 18:25
First Load Test – 23:11
Arduino Hi Frequency PWM Sketch & Test – 26:13

There’s a short announcement at the beginning of the video, here is a recap:

There will be a new DroneBot Workshop video every Saturday from now on!
Every Thursday there will be a video in my new series – “Build a REAL Robot”. I’ll take you step-by-step through the design and construction of a highly capable robot.

So if you haven’t subscribed to the YouTube channel please do it so that you won’t miss anything.

Hope you enjoy the video!

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