I'm using a Faulhaber 1509B BLDC motor with Hall sensors for an arduino-controlled reaction wheel project. However, I don't have any experience with BLDC motors, so I'm not sure what else I need besides the Arduino and the motor. I think I need an ESC to go with it; Faulhaber suggests using their SC 1801 controller with this particular motor. I just wanted to make sure I'm buying the right things, as these motors are pretty expensive.
With a sensored motor a sensored ESC is an obvious choice. Its possible to put together your
own 3-phase bridge to drive a low power motor like this if you have the experience, but its
not trivial.
Its important whatever contoller you get for the motor uses the hall sensors or you'll only have
open-loop control of a low torque motor which will be very weak indeed.
This is a high speed motor and 4-poles rather then 2, so the commutation rate is about 18kHz at 15kRPM,
which would be close to the limit for software/interrupt driven commutation anyway.
There are various ICs that provide 3-phase bridge or bridge driver with hall sensor logic built in, and
a fair few microcontrollers with hardware support, its probably worth looking to see if there's a good
hobby-priced module available where someone's done all the work already.
RC ESCs are overkill for that motor in terms of power handling, but a sensored ESC shouldn't have
trouble driving a lower power motor than it was designed for.
