Please, could you recommend me a MicroChip motor driver similar to L298N/L293D/ULN2003?.
Thanks and best regards
Please, could you recommend me a MicroChip motor driver similar to L298N/L293D/ULN2003?.
Thanks and best regards
The L298 and L293 motor drivers are ancient and inefficient. There are much better drivers available. Pololu has a great selection of motor drivers.
What motors do you have? You should pick a driver that suits the motors. No way can we recommend a driver till we know the motor type, rated voltage, rated current and stall current.
Thanks,
Why are L298N/L293D/ULN2003 considered "ancient/inefficient"?
They are usually refered in most tutorials
It is mostly for learning purposes, so probably small 5-6Vdc hobby motor.
Why are L298N/L293D/ULN2003 considered "ancient/inefficient"?
Those motor drivers have bipolar transistor outputs so they drop 2 to 4 volts themselves (depending on motor current). So if you power the motors with, say, 6V the motors get only 4 to 2 volts. That voltage drop is dissipated as heat. Modern drivers have MOSFET output stages and drop very little voltage (dissipate little as heat). They are used in tutorials because they are widely available and cheap. That does not make them good. Use them if you want, but there are better drivers available.
The motor voltage is only half what you need to know to choose an appropriate driver. The driver must be able to safely supply the stall (starting) current of the motor, too. The stall current should be listed on the motor data sheet, or can be estimated by measuring the motor winding resistance. Divide the motor supply voltage by the measured winding resistance to get the estimated stall current.
AingeruJM:
Why are L298N/L293D/ULN2003 considered "ancient/inefficient"?
50 year old designs,
waste 3.5 volts or so, so at 12V cannot be more than about 70% efficient. Also very limited current handling.
Modern MOSFET H-bridges will drop less than 1V typically, and some much less than this.
Less heat to get rid of, greater motor speed. Some H-bridge chips can manage dozens of amps without heatsinks.