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DC Motor Direction Control — Parallax Forums

DC Motor Direction Control

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2004-04-19 13:27 in General Discussion
I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class (actually, I'm hacking the
Tri-Turbofan
indoor flying blimp). I want to bypass the remote control and use other sensors
to control
the blimp's fan units. The fans are DC motors that spin both clockwise and
counterclockwise.

Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build my own circuit that will
allow me to
control the polarity to the motor. I'm a newbie so simplicity is key. My
understanding is
that a relay may be the best bet, or perhaps an h-bridge. I just don't know how
to set
these up. I don't know any specifics about the motors that spin the fans other
than they
are small and light weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the diameter of
a AA
battery. The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver) runs on a 3V battery
(the one
that looks like a short AA battery).

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

~Haven

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-17 01:07
    Hello,
    A simple h bridge would be the best if you just want to switch
    motor directions there is a good write up. In nuts and volts in article
    23 located at
    http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/nvcolumns/Nuts_Volts_Downlo
    ad_V1.asp

    If you need to vary the speed then you might want to try the
    Micro Dual Serial Motor Controller at
    http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30052

    Stephen Swanson
    Technical Support Manager
    Parallax, Inc.
    599 Menlo Drive, #100
    Rocklin, CA 95765

    Phone (916) 624-8333
    E-mail ..... sswanson@p...
    Main site...... www.parallax.com
    Educational site.... www.parallax.com/sic
    Javelin Stamp... www.parallax.com/javelin


    Original Message
    From: Haven [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=ssmk6EDOtU6inP_ntgN7sD-CC86yFI5oq11aZwYwkwHgGXJCvSSlV1WrcH2IDQafCEYj4ax0UvYf_tyaOtU]birdahonk@y...[/url
    Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 4:46 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] DC Motor Direction Control

    I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class (actually, I'm hacking
    the Tri-Turbofan
    indoor flying blimp). I want to bypass the remote control and use other
    sensors to control
    the blimp's fan units. The fans are DC motors that spin both clockwise
    and
    counterclockwise.

    Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build my own circuit that
    will allow me to
    control the polarity to the motor. I'm a newbie so simplicity is key. My
    understanding is
    that a relay may be the best bet, or perhaps an h-bridge. I just don't
    know how to set
    these up. I don't know any specifics about the motors that spin the fans
    other than they
    are small and light weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the
    diameter of a AA
    battery. The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver) runs on a 3V
    battery (the one
    that looks like a short AA battery).

    Any advice? Thanks in advance.

    ~Haven




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    This message has been scanned by WebShield. Please report SPAM to
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  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-17 05:51
    I really want to buy the Micro Dual Serial Motor Controller for my
    project but, just haven't justified it yet. Hopefully, I can justify
    it soon.

    Currently, I am just using a SPST and a SPDT relay. On/off and
    forward/reverse respectively. Bought them at Radio Shack. I have a
    schematic. E-mail me at FrankSmith512@y... if you want it. Let
    me know if you have CAD software.

    Best wishes,
    Frank


    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "Stephen Swanson" <sswanson@p...>
    wrote:
    > Hello,
    > A simple h bridge would be the best if you just want to switch
    > motor directions there is a good write up. In nuts and volts in
    article
    > 23 located at
    >
    http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/nvcolumns/Nuts_Volts_Down
    lo
    > ad_V1.asp
    >
    > If you need to vary the speed then you might want to try the
    > Micro Dual Serial Motor Controller at
    > http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30052
    >
    > Stephen Swanson
    > Technical Support Manager
    > Parallax, Inc.
    > 599 Menlo Drive, #100
    > Rocklin, CA 95765
    >
    > Phone (916) 624-8333
    > E-mail ..... sswanson@p...
    > Main site...... www.parallax.com
    > Educational site.... www.parallax.com/sic
    > Javelin Stamp... www.parallax.com/javelin
    >
    >
    >
    Original Message
    > From: Haven [noparse][[/noparse]mailto:birdahonk@y...]
    > Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 4:46 PM
    > To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] DC Motor Direction Control
    >
    > I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class (actually, I'm
    hacking
    > the Tri-Turbofan
    > indoor flying blimp). I want to bypass the remote control and use
    other
    > sensors to control
    > the blimp's fan units. The fans are DC motors that spin both
    clockwise
    > and
    > counterclockwise.
    >
    > Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build my own circuit
    that
    > will allow me to
    > control the polarity to the motor. I'm a newbie so simplicity is
    key. My
    > understanding is
    > that a relay may be the best bet, or perhaps an h-bridge. I just
    don't
    > know how to set
    > these up. I don't know any specifics about the motors that spin the
    fans
    > other than they
    > are small and light weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the
    > diameter of a AA
    > battery. The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver) runs on
    a 3V
    > battery (the one
    > that looks like a short AA battery).
    >
    > Any advice? Thanks in advance.
    >
    > ~Haven
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
    Subject
    > and Body of the message will be ignored.
    >
    > Yahoo! Groups Links
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > This message has been scanned by WebShield. Please report SPAM to
    > abuse@p...
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-17 17:40
    > I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class (actually, I'm hacking the
    > Tri-Turbofan indoor flying blimp). I want to bypass the remote control and
    > use other sensors to control the blimp's fan units. The fans are DC motors
    > that spin both clockwise and counterclockwise.
    >
    > Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build my own circuit that will
    > allow me to control the polarity to the motor. I'm a newbie so simplicity is
    > key. My understanding is that a relay may be the best bet, or perhaps an
    > h-bridge. I just don't know how to set these up. I don't know any specifics
    > about the motors that spin the fans other than they are small and light
    > weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the diameter of a AA battery.
    > The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver) runs on a 3V battery (the
    > one that looks like a short AA battery).

    Your #1 concern will most likely be weight. Because of this I'd choose one
    of the smaller H-Bridges since it should weight less than most DPDT relays.

    There's a good tutorial at: <http://www.dprg.org/tutorials/1998-04a/>

    --
    Enjoy,
    George Warner,
    Schizophrenic Optimization Scientists
    Apple Developer Technical Support (DTS)
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-17 20:43
    Hi,

    To keep the weight down and because it sounds like the
    motors don't pull too much current when they are
    running, I would use the L293D. This 16-pin DIP chip
    is two H-bridges on a chip with diode protection and
    is very reasonably priced. I can't recall where I
    bought mine but they were less than $5 a piece. And
    best of all, they are very easy to hook up and the
    Basic Stamp programming is very straightforward.

    Hope this helps and good luck with the project. Take
    lots of pictures and share what you have done with the
    rest of us.

    Take care and have a great day!!

    James E. Merritt


    > > I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class
    > (actually, I'm hacking the
    > > Tri-Turbofan indoor flying blimp). I want to
    > bypass the remote control and
    > > use other sensors to control the blimp's fan
    > units. The fans are DC motors
    > > that spin both clockwise and counterclockwise.
    > >
    > > Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build
    > my own circuit that will
    > > allow me to control the polarity to the motor. I'm
    > a newbie so simplicity is
    > > key. My understanding is that a relay may be the
    > best bet, or perhaps an
    > > h-bridge. I just don't know how to set these up. I
    > don't know any specifics
    > > about the motors that spin the fans other than
    > they are small and light
    > > weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the
    > diameter of a AA battery.
    > > The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver)
    > runs on a 3V battery (the
    > > one that looks like a short AA battery).
    >





    __________________________________
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    Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢
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  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-18 03:27
    James or someone else,

    Would you please post a schematic of how you hooked up the L293D?

    On another board they kept insisting that I should use an H-bridge
    but no one ever got around to posting a schematic.

    I searched the net and found lots of variations which just made it
    more confusing. I am controlling 3.5 amps. It is DC.

    Thanks,
    Frank



    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, James Merritt <jamesem_99@y...>
    wrote:
    > Hi,
    >
    > To keep the weight down and because it sounds like the
    > motors don't pull too much current when they are
    > running, I would use the L293D. This 16-pin DIP chip
    > is two H-bridges on a chip with diode protection and
    > is very reasonably priced. I can't recall where I
    > bought mine but they were less than $5 a piece. And
    > best of all, they are very easy to hook up and the
    > Basic Stamp programming is very straightforward.
    >
    > Hope this helps and good luck with the project. Take
    > lots of pictures and share what you have done with the
    > rest of us.
    >
    > Take care and have a great day!!
    >
    > James E. Merritt
    >
    >
    > > > I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class
    > > (actually, I'm hacking the
    > > > Tri-Turbofan indoor flying blimp). I want to
    > > bypass the remote control and
    > > > use other sensors to control the blimp's fan
    > > units. The fans are DC motors
    > > > that spin both clockwise and counterclockwise.
    > > >
    > > > Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build
    > > my own circuit that will
    > > > allow me to control the polarity to the motor. I'm
    > > a newbie so simplicity is
    > > > key. My understanding is that a relay may be the
    > > best bet, or perhaps an
    > > > h-bridge. I just don't know how to set these up. I
    > > don't know any specifics
    > > > about the motors that spin the fans other than
    > > they are small and light
    > > > weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the
    > > diameter of a AA battery.
    > > > The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver)
    > > runs on a 3V battery (the
    > > > one that looks like a short AA battery).
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > __________________________________
    > Do you Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢
    http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-18 16:00
    Hi Frank,

    Here are a couple of links for the L293D that will be
    very helpful. One thing, though, is that the L293D
    can only handle 600 ma with a big heat sink. You said
    that you are controlling 3.5 amps so in this case the
    L293D won't work. There is, I believe, a larger
    version of this chip, the L298 which can handle up to
    4 amps with appropriate heat sinking. With that in
    mind, here are the links:

    www.me.metu.edu.tr/me407/documents/basic_stamp_II.ppt
    www.me.umn.edu/courses/me2011/robot/technotes/L293/L293.html
    This link os to Digi-Key for teh L298:
    rocky.digikey.com/WebLib/ST%20Micro/Web%20Data/L298.pdf
    homepage.ntlworld.com/seanellis/avrrobot_hw.htm

    These should get you started.

    Have a great day!!

    James E. Merritt


    --- franksmith512 <franksmith512@y...> wrote:
    > James or someone else,
    >
    > Would you please post a schematic of how you hooked
    > up the L293D?
    >
    > On another board they kept insisting that I should
    > use an H-bridge
    > but no one ever got around to posting a schematic.
    >
    > I searched the net and found lots of variations
    > which just made it
    > more confusing. I am controlling 3.5 amps. It is
    > DC.
    >
    > Thanks,
    > Frank
    >
    >
    >





    __________________________________
    Do you Yahoo!?
    Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢
    http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-19 04:34
    Thanks! I appreciate that. Have already check out all the links.

    Frank

    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, James Merritt <jamesem_99@y...>
    wrote:
    > Hi Frank,
    >
    > Here are a couple of links for the L293D that will be
    > very helpful. One thing, though, is that the L293D
    > can only handle 600 ma with a big heat sink. You said
    > that you are controlling 3.5 amps so in this case the
    > L293D won't work. There is, I believe, a larger
    > version of this chip, the L298 which can handle up to
    > 4 amps with appropriate heat sinking. With that in
    > mind, here are the links:
    >
    > www.me.metu.edu.tr/me407/documents/basic_stamp_II.ppt
    > www.me.umn.edu/courses/me2011/robot/technotes/L293/L293.html
    > This link os to Digi-Key for teh L298:
    > rocky.digikey.com/WebLib/ST%20Micro/Web%20Data/L298.pdf
    > homepage.ntlworld.com/seanellis/avrrobot_hw.htm
    >
    > These should get you started.
    >
    > Have a great day!!
    >
    > James E. Merritt
    >
    >
    > --- franksmith512 <franksmith512@y...> wrote:
    > > James or someone else,
    > >
    > > Would you please post a schematic of how you hooked
    > > up the L293D?
    > >
    > > On another board they kept insisting that I should
    > > use an H-bridge
    > > but no one ever got around to posting a schematic.
    > >
    > > I searched the net and found lots of variations
    > > which just made it
    > > more confusing. I am controlling 3.5 amps. It is
    > > DC.
    > >
    > > Thanks,
    > > Frank
    > >
    > >
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > __________________________________
    > Do you Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢
    > http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-19 13:23
    this web site details the hardware and coding to control two dc motors with
    a stamp.
    jim
    http://www.geocities.com/jimforkin2003/


    Original Message
    From: Haven [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=m37uijkZbapx4VQ854OVRYRql3sdzuZSu9NC3X565qdmmkpk69ABNsiTHCB3R1Pp6usJg1_jgq9tj-3MjU8]birdahonk@y...[/url
    Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 7:46 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] DC Motor Direction Control


    I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class (actually, I'm hacking the
    Tri-Turbofan
    indoor flying blimp). I want to bypass the remote control and use other
    sensors to control
    the blimp's fan units. The fans are DC motors that spin both clockwise and
    counterclockwise.

    Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build my own circuit that will
    allow me to
    control the polarity to the motor. I'm a newbie so simplicity is key. My
    understanding is
    that a relay may be the best bet, or perhaps an h-bridge. I just don't know
    how to set
    these up. I don't know any specifics about the motors that spin the fans
    other than they
    are small and light weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the diameter
    of a AA
    battery. The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver) runs on a 3V
    battery (the one
    that looks like a short AA battery).

    Any advice? Thanks in advance.

    ~Haven




    To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
    Body of the message will be ignored.

    Yahoo! Groups Links
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-04-19 13:27
    check out this web site for hardware and code
    http://www.geocities.com/jimforkin2003/
    jim

    Original Message
    From: franksmith512 [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=uohYMz0kbpZJ-n4UsHSGOM8R7ZQIlqPH1-Ny3qu2146e55oVOx-gIx8ASf6WEqWgJy4AUD_zyt_BWJHCwVWj_g]franksmith512@y...[/url
    Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2004 10:27 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Re: DC Motor Direction Control


    James or someone else,

    Would you please post a schematic of how you hooked up the L293D?

    On another board they kept insisting that I should use an H-bridge
    but no one ever got around to posting a schematic.

    I searched the net and found lots of variations which just made it
    more confusing. I am controlling 3.5 amps. It is DC.

    Thanks,
    Frank



    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, James Merritt <jamesem_99@y...>
    wrote:
    > Hi,
    >
    > To keep the weight down and because it sounds like the
    > motors don't pull too much current when they are
    > running, I would use the L293D. This 16-pin DIP chip
    > is two H-bridges on a chip with diode protection and
    > is very reasonably priced. I can't recall where I
    > bought mine but they were less than $5 a piece. And
    > best of all, they are very easy to hook up and the
    > Basic Stamp programming is very straightforward.
    >
    > Hope this helps and good luck with the project. Take
    > lots of pictures and share what you have done with the
    > rest of us.
    >
    > Take care and have a great day!!
    >
    > James E. Merritt
    >
    >
    > > > I'm building an indoor flying blimp for a class
    > > (actually, I'm hacking the
    > > > Tri-Turbofan indoor flying blimp). I want to
    > > bypass the remote control and
    > > > use other sensors to control the blimp's fan
    > > units. The fans are DC motors
    > > > that spin both clockwise and counterclockwise.
    > > >
    > > > Can anyone direct me to a simple solution to build
    > > my own circuit that will
    > > > allow me to control the polarity to the motor. I'm
    > > a newbie so simplicity is
    > > > key. My understanding is that a relay may be the
    > > best bet, or perhaps an
    > > > h-bridge. I just don't know how to set these up. I
    > > don't know any specifics
    > > > about the motors that spin the fans other than
    > > they are small and light
    > > > weight, about 3/4 of an inch long and about the
    > > diameter of a AA battery.
    > > > The whole fan unit (which houses the RC receiver)
    > > runs on a 3V battery (the
    > > > one that looks like a short AA battery).
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > __________________________________
    > Do you Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢
    http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash



    To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
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