I have up till now been tied into the unlimited power that comes out of a power supply, and am ready to make the jump to the untethered world of battery power. I was wondering if there are any tips or tricks to getting the most out of a battery while using it to drive a small motor.
Basically the motor and on/off button is the only thing using electronics. I know the driver has a pin that can put the driver into stand-by mode, I am looking for any other suggestions or tricks to making this motor spin for two years off of a 9-volt battery/sarcasm
Not many tricks you can use because current is current.
You could use a DC to DC converter to match the voltage to your motor to exactly what it needs, that would maximize the efficiency of your power supply chain.
From a general point of view, controlled acceleration or "soft start" will save a bit of energy when you first apply power to the motor. You might also want to consider regenerative braking to feed energy back into the battery during braking or stopping. Plenty thick cables and good connections will also minimise resistive power losses in the power cables.
Under Electrical characteristics, it identifies the "On Load" characteristics (point 3.3) as having a current draw of 135 mA (point 3.3.1) and a speed of 95 RPM (3.3.2). Are these the ideal operating conditions of the motor where efficiency will be highest (except for, of course, no load)?
Lets say that I have a set size of battery. I want to make something spin at ~90 RPM.
Should I get the motor that is geared with an "on load" speed of ~100 RPM and run it near full power/speed, or shoudl I get a motor that is geared for an "on load" speed of much higher (maybe 450 RPM), and run it with less voltage? I am assuming that it is not as easy as running the motor very slow and saving a proportional amount of battery power.
I am trying to maximize the amount of time that the battery will spin the motor at ~ 90 RPM (These RPMs are not necessarily what I am working with, I am interested in learning how this stuff is related)
In general a DC motor operates best at high speed, so gearing down a high speed motor is the best approach.
Running a motor at a lower voltage is not such a good idea, in this context.