Brushed motors are the most widely used motor because they are easy to use. Just supply the two terminals with DC power, the motor will start rotating! If you want to control its speed and direction using a controller, usually you will use a L298N Motor Driver. But if you want an easy and beginner friendly motor driver, you in the right pace! Maker Drive is designed for simplicity and with beginner in mind!
-
Fool Proof (Peace of Mind) - Maker Drive comes with Reverse Polarity Protection at Vin/Vmotor/Vbatt (Power for motor) terminal. This greatly reduces the chance of burning out your motor dirver!
-
Compact Design - Maker Drive is designed to be compact, roughly the size of a passport photo, 43mm(W) x 35mm(L) x 14mm(H)
-
4 Test Buttons (2 for each channel) - Easily test the motor or your mechanism without any controller or coding. Maker Drive comes with two manual test buttons for each channel. Pressing one of the buttons will drive the output full speed in a direction (if there is motor connected) on respective channel. While another button will drive the output in another direction. These buttons are useful to test the motor direction, connection and operation; even without controller. You will love these buttons, believe me! You can also use these buttons as manual activation button too. No programming is needed to use these buttons.
-
4 Indicator LEDs (2 for each channel) - Easily test your coding and wire connections. With these indicator LEDs, you can check output voltage direction even without connecting to your motor. And combining with the Manual Test Buttons, you can test the Maker Drive easily even without controller and motor connected. You can also easily identify where the error occur for easy troubleshooting. Of course no programming is needed too. These LEDs help in testing and troubleshooting.
-
Buck-boost regulator to produce 5V output from input voltage as low as 2.5V- Power your 5V controller with 2 AA batteries. Maker Drive can produce output of 5V with input voltage range, from 2.5V up to 9.5V. This 5V output can supply 200mA to external circuit such as controller (Arduino), saving the trouble to get another another power source for your controller. Now your project can be powered with a single power source. And with the wide input voltage range, you can power Maker Drive with two AA or AAA battery (1.5V x 2 = 3V) or single cell Li-ion or Lipo battery that has rated voltage of 3.7V. That is awesome!
-
Regenerative Braking Control - In some cases, it is called Regen braking and it provides better control over motor speed. Most application perform better in Regen braking for example line following as the controller can control the speed more accurately. Another method is coast stop which allow the motor to slow down or stop using the inertia.
Maker Drive is designed to solve common problems, while adding some useful features:
-
Fool Proof (Peace of Mind) - Maker Drive comes with Reverse Polarity Protection at Vin/Vmotor/Vbatt (Power for motor) terminal. This greatly reduces the chance of burning out your motor driver!
-
Compact Design - Maker Drive is designed to be compact, roughly the size of a passport photo, 43mm(W) x 35mm(L) x 14mm(H)
- 4 Test Buttons (2 for each channel) - Easily test the motor or your mechanism without any controller or coding. Maker Drive comes with two manual test buttons for each channel. Pressing one of the buttons will drive the output full speed in a direction (if there is motor connected) on the respective channel. Another button will drive the output in another direction. These buttons are useful to test the motor direction, connection and operation; even without a controller attached. You will love these buttons! You can use these buttons as manual activation buttons too! No programming required!
-
4 Indicator LEDs (2 for each channel) - Easily test your coding and wire connections. With these indicator LEDs, you can check output voltage direction even with the motor disconnected. Combined with the Manual Test Buttons, you can test the Maker Drive easily even without a controller and or motor connected. You can also easily identify where errors occur for easy troubleshooting. As with the buttons, these work with no programming required!
-
Buck-boost regulator to produce 5V output from input voltage as low as 2.5V- Power your 5V controller with 2 AA batteries. Maker Drive can produce output of 5V with input an voltage range from 2.5V up to 9.5V. This 5V output can supply 200mA to an external circuit such as a controller (e,g, an Arduino), saving you the trouble of attaching a separate power source for your controller. Now your project can be powered with a single power source! With the wide input voltage range, you can power Maker Drive with two AA or AAA battery (1.5V x 2 = 3V) or single cell Li-ion or Lipo battery that has rated voltage of 3.7V. That is awesome!
-
Regenerative Braking Control - In some cases, it is called Regen braking and it provides better control over motor speed. Most applications perform better in Regen braking, for example line-following, as the controller can control the speed more accurately. Another method is coast stop, which allows the motor to slow down or stop using inertia.
-
Specially Designed for Mobile Robots - Building a small mobile robot has never been easier with Maker Drive + Maker UNO duo! If you are interested in building a line-following robot, you may follow this tutorial.
-
Support Stepper Motor - This is an additional bonus feature! Maker Drive is capable of driving a stepper motor.
Maker Drive is not an Arduino Shield, but it is compatible with different models of Arduino main board such as:
It also accepts 1.8V, 3.3V & 5V logic(for control) and is compatible with controllers such as Raspberry Pi, micro:bit, BeagleBone, ESP8266, ESP32, etc.
The Maker Drive works with any DC motor that meets the following criteria:
- DC Brush motor (Two Terminals)
- Operating voltage from 2.5V to 9.5VDC
- Rated Current <= 1.0A
- Peak Current <= 1.5A
Examples of suitable DC brush motor for Maker Drive include (but are not limited to):
- 6V 85RPM DC Micro Metal Gearmotor
- 6V 225RPM 0.35kgfcm
- 12V 125RPM 0.5kgfcm Brushed DC Geared Motor
- TT Motor + Wheel Kit
- Tamiya Double Gearbox (Although the stall current is 2.10A)
- Tamiya Twin-Motor Gearbox (Although the stall current is 2.10A)
- TT Motor - Dual Metal Shaft 3V miniaturetoy motor
- The TT motors in Aluminum 2WD TT Robot/Motor Chasis
- The TT motors in Maker UNO Bluetooth Robot Kit
Some suggested power sources for Maker Drive:
- 2 x AA/AAA batteries (2 x 1.5V = 3.0V) + Battery holder
- 3 x AA/AAA batteries (3 x 1.5V = 4.5V) + Battery holder
- 4 x AA/AAA batteries (4 x 1.5V = 6.0V) + Battery holder
- 1 x Li-ion 18650 battery (1 x 3.7V, 3.0V to 4.2V) + Battery Holder
- 2 x Li-ion 18650 batteries (2 x 3.7V = 7.4V, 6.0V to 8.4V) + Battery Holder
- 1 x Li-ion 14500 battery (1 x 3.7V, 3.0V to 4.2V) + Battery Holder (coming soon)
- 2 x Li-ion 14500 batteries (2 x 3.7V = 7.4V, 6.0V to 8.4V) + Battery Holder
Features:
- Dual channel, Bi-directional control motor driver
- Support motor voltage from 2.5V to 9.5VDC
- Maximum current up to 1.0A continuous and 1.5A peak (<5 seconds)
-
5V Output (200mA) to power the controller.
-
Inputs compatible with 1.8V, 3.3V and 5V logic (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc).
- Solid state components provide faster response time and eliminate the wear and tear of mechanical relay
- Regenerative Braking
- Speed control PWM frequency up to 20KHz (Actual output frequency is same as input frequency)
- Dimension: 43mm(W) x 35mm (L) x 14mm (H)
Documents/Example Code:
Packing List:
Introductory Video:
