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[on:]

Sparkfun: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10616?
Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/products/815

Anyone use either of these boards? I'm kinda going with the I2C so I can use with my RPi too but I'd like to know if anyone's used the Sparkfuns board. Right now I have 3 servos and a high  powered LED so but soon to add more motors. How easy will it be to control the led with either board?

[Reply #1 on:]

Question - are you really using servos to move the 'bot? Servos, DC motors and continuous rotation servos are very different things?

Mark

[Reply #2 on:]

yes they're servos..

[Reply #3 on:]

Looking at the Adafruit page, it looks like it is has one or two things the TLC5940 from Sparkfun does not have:

• It's an i2c-controlled PWM driver with a built in clock, evidently in the TLC5940 family, you need to continuously send it signal tying up your microcontroller, while the Adafruit, operates independently once given the commands.
• 6 address select pins so you can wire up to 62 of these on a single i2c bus, a total of 992 outputs
• Terminal block for power input so that you can wire up the servos from this power source -- from the picture, it looks like Sparkfun may have this also, as there are two holes in the top of the board, but it isn't called out

I haven't used either of the two boards you asked about.  While both seem to be competent companies, I tend to go to Adafruit frist, and then look to Sparkfun if Adafruit doesn't have what I want.

You might also look at pololu.com, which has its own controllers for robots.  Here is their Mini Maestro 24 controller: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1356.  They also make versions with 6, 12, and 18 controllers.