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[on:]

We have a old wheel chair with 2 24vdc motors on it. We are looking for a motorcontroller board that we could use to control them with arduino. I was wondering if anyone has worked on a similar project and could suggest a motor controller board(with a reasonable price tag).

Would we be better off building one from scratch? If so, can you link us to a good design?

Thanks,
giodamelio
toozinger

[Reply #1 on:]

High amperage H-bridges are tricky to build. I would check out something from Pololu. www.pololu.com

[Reply #2 on:]

You will need a power supply and a controller. You may want to pick up some high-amperage controllers and a power supply or two from someplace like Circuit Specialists. (www.circuitspecialists.com)
How many amps do you need? 5A, $42: http://www.circuitspecialists.com/stepper-motor-controller-cw250.html
Power supply: 36V, 6.5A: http://www.circuitspecialists.com/hf300w-s-36.html

[Reply #3 on:]

That controller is for a stepper motor. He needs just a plain H-bridge for a PMDC motor. Looks like CSI has some good deals on motors and controllers, though.

[Reply #4 on:]

Do you know the resistance of the motor windings?  I suspect it will need controller in the region of 20 to 50A, but without more information its hard to really know - any panel or label on the motor with part number or specifications on it?  2 or 4 brushes?

[Reply #5 on:]

That controller is for a stepper motor.

You are right! I've had my headspace in steppers, and misread the request. The power supply might still work, though :-)

[Reply #6 on:]

We have a old wheel chair with 2 24vdc motors on it. We are looking for a motorcontroller board that we could use to control them with arduino. I was wondering if anyone has worked on a similar project and could suggest a motor controller board(with a reasonable price tag).

Would we be better off building one from scratch? If so, can you link us to a good design?

Thanks,
giodamelio
toozinger

Before you can purchase or build a pair of h-bridges to control these motors, you're going to need to know the current draw for the motors under load and stall conditions; do you know this (is it written on the motor? Have you measured it?). If you can post that information, then maybe we could recommend an h-bridge for you...

[Reply #7 on:]

You might want to check ebay for second hand chairs with faults (but not in the motor controller!)

[Reply #8 on:]

The below h-bridge might be affordable.

http://secure.oatleyelectronics.com//product_info.php?products_id=206&osCsid=30093449b694ae247d94c2bcce5d0560