I have a question I was hoping you could help me with. I am trying to drive some motors from an arduino. I have a total of 6 motors that I will be driving and they will be set up as such. 4 of the motors will be set up to run in groups of 2 and only require one direction and speed control. meaning I need to be able to independently turn on and set the speed of 2 motors at a time. The remaining 2 motors will each be controlled independently both only in one direction but they require a motor brake as well. So essentially I need to have for control pins set up like this.

Control Pins:
1. 2 motors one direction with speed control (Amp Draw around 5-10A)
2. 2 motors one direction with speed control (Amp Draw around 5-10A)
3. 1 motor one direction with brake (Amp Draw around 2.5 - 5A)
$. 1 motor one direction with brake (Amp Draw around 2.5 - 5A)

I do not think the amp draw will be this high but I am figuring a bit on the high end. I have been looking at a lot of different MOSFET set ups and I am struggling to pick the right MOSFET for the job as well as which diodes and resistors to use in the circuit. I have a bunch of IRF540N MOSFETS already but they are not set up for having logic level gate voltages drive them so not sure that works, so I was going down the path of looking at logic level MOSFETS. Then I thought maybe I get a couple logic level MOSFETS to drive the IRF540N MOSFETS and then I started to think who would I know that could help me out. Any thoughts you can send my way would be greatly appreciated.

I thought about using relays but I need to get down to 100ms pulses on the motor control so not sure a relay will be able to handle that kind of timing. I am however open to suggestions.

Items I am using;
6 Motors - http://www.containmentcrew.com/shop/mtb/mtb-001/
Microcontroller - https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardNano

Thanks for any advice anyone can provide I appreciate it.

 

I would use logic level Mosfets. IRL530 etc.
Max.

 

If you don't want to buy new MOSFETs you could use an NPN (e.g. 2N3904) as a gate driver to provide the 12V (10V minimum needed).

 

I am happy to buy new mosfets and will look at the IRL530 the question I am a little hazy on is how do I implement a brake using mosfets? I do not need a full H bridge I just need forward and Breaking.

 

Hope you don't end up 'Breaking' it! but to Brake.
This principle:
Max.

 

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/produ...|prd|7589349&gclid=CP2unO7KytQCFc-w7QodVgsCCg

Many others available,
ebay et all. does all this for you, and have code examples.

 

Yes I have looked at many of these but it seems that 90% of them are rated for 2-3amps continuous which is not enough. I realize that they make these but once you get into the higher amp controllers there are all Full H bridge controllers which I do not need for this and they are expensive. I did buy a 3amp dual motor controller form Pololu which I am going to use for the motors I need to break so I am covered there. Now I just basically need on and off control for the other 4 motors. 1 microcontroller pin to drive 2 motors drawing between 5-10 amps per set.

 

Thanks for all the help from everyone by the way I have been looking at lots of new parts and trying to brush up on my circuit designing skills.

 

If you don't want to buy new MOSFETs you could use an NPN (e.g. 2N3904) as a gate driver to provide the 12V (10V minimum needed).

I am thinking of going with this approach to drive the motors that do not require breaking, what else should I use in this circuit?

 

Have you looked at the VNH2SP30 boards on Ebay? A couple of these dual motor boards could go a long way towards your project.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Monster-...914824&hash=item56970f9130:g:Ji0AAOSwnHZYT6vS

http://www.instructables.com/id/Monster-Motor-Shield-VNH2SP30/

Data sheet of the driver....
http://www.st.com/content/ccc/resou...df/jcr:content/translations/en.CD00043711.pdf

And probably the original board...
https://www.pololu.com/product/708

I don't know how many boards an Arduino can run without mods or extra interface, but an H bridge chip may be an easier solution that just FETs.

Are you wanting closed loop speed speed control and/or position? That adds to the complexity quite a bit, and maybe an Arduino for each pair of motors (one shield per Arduino) is the way to go, with the Arduinos talking to each other.