Ordered a Motor Control Board for Raspberry Pi

Tonight, I wanted to make some progress on the automated pet food dispenser project.  One of the next things to figure out is how to control the motor using my Raspberry Pi microcontroller.  I did some research.  There are various options.  For example, there are chips like the L293D stepper motor driver or the L293E.  We did not have those drivers at the Makerspace.

There are also several different boards that will drive motors.  I decided to go with the RTK Motor Controller Board Kit from Adafruit.  It's a kit that I can solder together with my son as a mini-project.  Plus, it's relatively inexpensive and it will control a motor from my Pi.  I am sure there are a dozen other ways to control a motor from my Raspberry Pi but this is a good option for me.

Right after I ordered the board from Adafruit, Vishal, another member at the Milwaukee Makerspace talked to me about making my own circuit.  I did find a circuit on the internet that uses an NPN transistor to enable the circuit.  I wired up the circuit on a breadboard and hooked up a 12v power supply.  The motor turned on.  That was strange because I did not have it hooked up to the pi. 

I'll have to do more research.


Tags: #Motor, #RaspberryPi