Motor Speed Controllers

Motor Controller Comparison & Support

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	SaberTooth 2x10 Custom RC Sabertooth	SaberTooth 2x25	SuperDroid Robots PWM Motor Controller	Devantech MD22 Dual Channel Speed Controller	Devantech MD03 Speed Controller
Current Capacity	10 Amp continuous per motor. Dual Channel so it handles two motors at 10 amps each. Peak currents of 15A are achievable for a few seconds	25 Amp continuous per motor. Dual Channel so it handles two motors at 25 amps each. Peak currents of 50A per channel are achievable for a few seconds.	3 Amps per motor. It can take spikes greater than this, but its fused at 3 Amps slow blow fuse.	5 Amps per motor.	As supplied it can handle 20A current capacity for 5V to 50V motors and up to 290Amps in very brief repetitive pulses.
Control Method(s)	Analog voltage, radio control, serial and packetized serial. You can build many different robots of increasing complexity for years to come with a Sabertooth. Sabertooth has independent and speed + direction operating modes, making it the ideal driver for differential drive (tank style) robots and more.	Analog voltage, radio control, serial and packetized serial. You can build many different robots of increasing complexity for years to come with a Sabertooth. Sabertooth has independent and speed + direction operating modes, making it the ideal driver for differential drive (tank style) robots and more.	PWM input (a simulated 0-5V output from a microcontroller). Also needs input for direction and brakes.	Multiple methods: - I2C (eliminates IO counts on your controller!). - servo pulse input. - PWM	Multiple methods: - I2C (eliminates IO counts on your controller!). - servo pulse input. - PWM
Size	Size: 2.3” x 3” x .7” 59 x 75 x 17 mm	Size: 2.6” x 3.2” x .8” 65 x 80 x 20 mm	1.25" x 2.5" and includes 4 mounting holes that will accept a #4 machine screw.	110mm x 52mm x 25mm	110mm x 52mm x 25mm
Other Features	The motor controllers are rated for 24V. They will start shutting down at 29V for protection. So using 20 cell NiMH packs will push the limit of these controllers. They will work with 20 cell batteries, but should only be used for recreational robots, not industrial applications as a fully peaked battery may result in the motor controller safely shutting down.	The motor controllers are rated for 24V. They will start shutting down at 29V for protection. So using 20 cell NiMH packs will push the limit of these controllers. They will work with 20 cell batteries, but should only be used for recreational robots, not industrial applications as a fully peaked battery may result in the motor controller safely shutting down.	Can solder to through hole locations for thermal flag and current monitoring. Brake and direction have pull down resistors on them so you do not have to hook up IO to them if you don't wish to use them. We offer hookup kits for these: PWM to PIC Hookup Kit PWM to RC Hookup Kit
I/O Lines Used per motor	1 per side for RC or analog. only one line required for both motors using serial.	1 per side for RC or analog. only one line required for both motors using serial.	PWM input for speed Optional IO for brake, direction, thermal, and current	As mentioned above, this controller can be controlled with an I2C device freeing up valuable I/O on your PIC or allows control with RF04 & CM02 If using a different mode see the MD22 support page or look below.	As mentioned above, this controller can be controlled with an I2C device freeing up valuable I/O on your PIC or allows control with RF04 & CM02 If using a different mode see the MD03 support page or look below.
Recommended for the following motors	All our IG32 and 42 motors will work with this controller. IG52s can be used too in light duty.	IG42 and 52 motors work well with this unit.	Our IG32 and IG42 motors work well with this unit. For the IG42 motors we use one PWM per motor. For the smaller IG32 motors, you can run two motors in parallel per PWM	IG32 and IG42 motoros. We run two IG42 motors per side with this controller, but under a stall condition this goes a little beyond the recommended limit of the MD22, so some care needs to be taken.	This controller has no trouble with any of our motors.

Schematics

Below are some schematics that may not apply directly to what you wish to do, but will give you a starting point or you can use pieces of it:

	ATR Power Schematic
	Running NiMH in parallel recommended schematic
	2 MD03s in 0-5V Mode with a reverse bit controlled with a OOPic-R and a SDR Wireless controller
	2 MD03s in I2C Mode controlled with a OOPic-R and a SDR Wireless controller
	MD22 in I2C Mode controlled with a OOPic-R and a SDR Wireless controller
	6 SDR PWMs for 6 motors controlled with an OOPic-R and a SDR Wireless controller
	Hookup of a Custom Sabertooth to a Spektrum Radio

Hooking Up SuperDroid Robots PWM to a RC Controller

Our PWM motor controller can be hooked up to our RC Interface board to allow you to control motors with a standard RC unit. We sell a PWM to RC Hookup Kit that connects 2 PWMs to the RC interface board as shown in the picture to the left. This is our preferred way of controlling a robot with a RC controller and seems to work the best out of all the other methods that we have tried. The top picture is using 1 PWM per pair of motors on our mini ATR, the bottom picture uses a single PWM per motor for our Deluxe ATR. The boards are labeled, you just hook up the brake lines, PWM lines, and Direction Lines together. Wire the PWMs with power, and plug in the receiver to the RC interface board.

Hooking Up and OOPic II/II+ Expansion Board to the MD22

The MD22 can be easily hooked up to an OOPic II/II+ using the Trekker Expansion board and our single ended jumpers to go from the servo headers of the expansion board to the terminal block of the the MD22. Or you can build custom connectors with receptacles to go from the servo headers of the Trekker Expansion board to the MD22. You can also hook up to the I2C connection or you can drive the MD22 with any servo I/O pins using the oServo object. The advantage of this is you then end up with an interface board that allows you to hook up all the I/O the Trekker Expansion board supports.

Hooking Up and OOPic-R Expansion Board to the MD22

The MD22 can be easily hooked up to an OOPic-R using the Trekker-R Expansion board and our single ended jumpers to go from the headers OOPic-R to the terminal block of the the MD22 allowing you to still use all the features of the Trekker-R Expansion board/OOPic-R. Or you can build custom connectors with receptacles to go from the headers to the MD22. You can hook up to the I2C connection or you can drive the MD22 with any servo I/O pins using the oServo object. The advantage of this is you then end up with an interface board that allows you to hook up all the I/O the Trekker-R Expansion board supports.

Hooking up the MD22 to the OOPic II/II+

The MD22 can be easily hooked up to an OOPic II/II+ by using our double ended jumpers to go from the headers of the OOPic to the header of the the MD22. You can hook up to I2C connection or you can drive the MD22 with any of the I/O Pins using the oServo object.

As an Extension to this hook-up you can utilize the Trekker OOPic II/II+ Expansion board and drive the MD22s using the servo outputs or I2C and you get all the great features of the expansion boards and your robot will be just like a Trekker only bigger! You can add all the sensors, etc that the expansion boards support and most of the programs for the Trekker will be applicable. See our controller hook up page for more details. These kits also provide you with battery trays for your controller power.

Hooking up the MD22 to the OOPic-R

The MD22 can be easily hooked up to an OOPic-R by using our double ended jumpers to go from the headers of the OOPic to the header of the the MD22. You can hook up to I2C connection or you can drive the MD22 with any of the I/O Pins using the oServo object.

As an Extension to this hook-up you can utilize the OOPic-R with an Trekker OOPic-R Expansion board and drive the MD22s using the servo outputs or I2C and you get all the great features of the expansion boards and your robot will be just like a Trekker only bigger! You can add all the sensors, etc that the expansion boards support and most of the programs for the Trekker will be applicable. See our controller hook up page for more details. These kits also provide you with battery trays for your controller power.

Hooking up the MD22 to the CM02 RF04 Transceiver Link

The MD22 can be easily hooked up to an CM02 R04 by standard wire from one terminal block to the 4 pin headers on the CM02. You will want some crimp receptacles to attach the wire to the header. Other devices like a compass or SRF08 can be attached to the CM02 Header too.

Hooking up the MD22 to a standard RC system

The MD22 can be easily hooked up to a standard RC Receiver with wire from one terminal block to the 3 pin headers of an RC Receiver. You will want some 3-ping crimp receptacles to attach the wire to the header.