Hi i am completely new in the the field of programming and working with Arduino micro-controllers. I have been assigned in a project in my course that requires me to create a remote controlled car. In my design i have decided to use two 12V DC motors which have rotary encoders on them. I have read that when connecting a motor to an Arduino you have to do it via a motor shield or ESC. My question is what is the difference between using a motor shield or an ESC? If i have two motors do i have to by 2 ESCs or motor shield?
kc00278:
Hi i am completely new in the the field of programming and working with Arduino micro-controllers. I have been assigned in a project in my course that requires me to create a remote controlled car. In my design i have decided to use two 12V DC motors which have rotary encoders on them. I have read that when connecting a motor to an Arduino you have to do it via a motor shield or ESC. My question is what is the difference between using a motor shield or an ESC? If i have two motors do i have to by 2 ESCs or motor shield?
"ESC" stands for Electronic Speed Controller. I think the term ESC is usually used with motor controllers which can be controlled with the same sort of signal used to control servos.
Many h-bridges use a different control strategy. There are lots of $3 L298N dual h-bridges on ebay. A single L298N can control two motors. Here's a video I made explaining how to use these h-bridges (make sure you watch the end of the video even if you skip the rest of it).
If you tell us more about the motors you plan to use, we could offer suggestions concerning which h-bridge you should use. If possible provide a link to the motors you plan to use.
Do you plan to use normal RC gear to control the robot?
Thanks for the reply DuaneDegn
The motors i am planning on using are 313 RPM HD Planetary Gear Motors with encoders, here is the link below (https://www.servocity.com/html/313_rpm_hd_planetary_gear_moto.html#.VnAPteOLRE4).
Just to mention again i am planning on using two of these motors. Since i am using two motors do in also have to consider a large Arduino board (e.g. an Arduino Mega?)
To answer your question with the gears, yes i are planning on using normally RC type gearing on my robot so that i can increase the overall torque produced.
Again thank you for the help and the video you linked me!
By "RC gear" I meant RC equipment. I was wondering how you planned to control the robot (if you plan to have a remote).
There are lots of remote control options. My current favorites are RC gear, wireless Wii Nunchuck and smartphone control over Bluetooth. There are lots of other options.
It looks like the motors you're using can pull 20A when stalled.
I'd think something like this dual h-bridge would work. Pololu has lots of good motor control options. Another alternative would be to use an ESC for brushed motors from HobbyKing.
Parallax's HB-25 motor controllers is another option. These are controlled similar to a continuous rotation servo. I used HB-25 motor controllers on this robot.
If you find a h-bridge/motor controller you like, share a link to it and we can offer out opinion on how well we think it might work. I've done a bunch of robotic projects myself but I certainly don't consider myself an expert on h-bridges. You'll want to get more than just my opinion on an appropriate motor controller.