Various ways to drive motor.. transistor, ESC, H-bridge - Advantages?

Using Arduino Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hi all,

I'm looking to drive a high voltage motor using a signal from the arduino.
The various options I know of (and have mostly prototyped) are using an ESC, Transistor, and/or h-bridge.

The issue is, I'm not sure which to use. Can someone please let me know what the pros/cons are of each, and what they recommend? I'm using this to drive a motor for a jet-drive on a boat.

Thanks!

2

High-voltage jet drive for a boat? Sounds like a "high power" application and I'd go with an off-the-shelf ESC that's already been (hopefully) thoroughly tested and debugged. The concept of an H-bridge is simple enough but once voltages and currents get high, there is lots of potential for destruction if you aren't supremely careful with design and implementation.

Of course, the "con" of an ESC is the higher cost, but without knowing your budget or constraints it's hard to advise.

--
The Basic Motor Driver: simple, inexpensive motor driver for 1 stepper motor or 2 DC motors

3

It's only a 9.6v brushed motor.

I'm not looking at this so much from a cost perspective, but rather just curious what the advantage/disadvantage of each is, and would love a pointer to some useful reading, since I'm struggling to find some :slight_smile:

Thanks