I just bought an Arduino Mega 2560 r3 with a bunch of sensors, leds, resistors, etc... to mess around with. I also bought this hobby motor: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10171
Now I am realizing that I probably need a transistor to make it work.
A) Is there a way to test that motor without a transistor?
B) What are the steps you take to pick out a transistor? (using the above motor as an example would be great)
C) What are the main things you look at when looking at a datasheet? (here is the datasheet for the hobby motor I have (201-A): http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Robotics/hobbymotor.JPG
D) Any suggestions for quickly getting into working with motors and servos? (learning about external power supplies, transistors, etc...)
It does say that the transistor it talks about, the BC547, is not what you want for the current drawn by a motor, but nevertheless it shows how to hook things up. It also indicates that the IRF520 is a good choice for running motors and such.
BUT..... they key thing to hooking up the motor is to use a diode as explained about half way down this page where it shows a transistor switching a relay... mentally change the relay to your motor.
Sorry I can't help with interpreting datasheets.... I'm sure someone here will help though!
Regarding testing the motor, well you can just jam the wires onto a 1.5V AA cell and it should run.
Servos are easy.... have a look here for that. But it's bad practice to give the servo its power from the Arduino- the red and black should come from their own source like a battery, and you need to connect the battery ground to Arduino ground.
