I would like to know how really “silent” the motor is.
I am working on a project and I currently use a 12v 26 RPM planetary gear motor driving a long gear train. The motor alone without a load is quite noisy. A “silent” motor would be great.
So, I’d like to know how silent the motor is compared to the normal planetary gear motor or even a spur gear motor.
Further, I’d like to know if the motor does not prove to be silent enough after simply powering up with no load I could return it
Thanks.
The motor is actually “low noise” and the manufacturer indicates the following:
robotshop.com/en/12v-silent- … coder.html
“Our tests on a common environmental sound emissions shows that the motors have differences. While we thought of averaging the sound emission values, this would not be accurate. Thus we kept the highest value gathered from the tests. The lowest sound emissions reached an average of 57dBA on 40dB indoors environmental sound. These tests where not done in a Acoustic chamber. No load was applied. For all sound sensitive projects, a sound proof case is recommended for all mechanical parts.”
Spur gear motors are inherently less efficient than planetary gear motors, but it is not easy to give a general comparison as many factors are involved (applied voltage, load, duration of operation etc).
If you are not sure if the motor will meet your needs, we suggest not soldering to the motor’s leads (use alligator clips for example) and we would be able to accept the return.
Thanks much for the information. I have a follow-up question.
Would a stepper motor driven continuously be less noisy than the gear motor? I have designed for a 12V system, and your RB-Ada-138 or RB-Soy-03. I cannot measure the necessary torque, but it seems to be really low. I have measure almost no difference in the drive current for load an no load with the planetary gear motor I am currently using.
Based on experience alone, a non-geared stepper motor tends to be less quiet than a geared DC motor. However, if you need gearing, the physical interaction of gears produces noise. What is the application?
You have to promise not to laugh, but I am building a clock using Actobotics parts … functional art you might call it. I start now with an encoded 26 RPM planetary gear motor and gear down to second, minute, hour. Speed control is via an Arduino. I’d like to mount the clock in my living area, and thus the need for the quietest drive means I can find that would also have reasonable accuracy (using control via feedback if needed).
Some folks I’ve talked to suggested a stepper motor might more quiet than a DC motor. You appear to suggest that is not true.
With a DC motor, I would run continuously. With a stepper, I could run continuously, e.g. at 1 RPM, or run in bursts, e.g., some number of steps per second, whatever might be the most quiet.
But back to the original question, based on your experience, would the “silent” DC motor be more or less quiet than one of you stepper motors (I only need a small amount of torque).
Stepper motors do tend to be more quiet than DC motors, but much of the noise comes from the gearing rather than the motor.
A stepper might be the better approach. Note however that the low duty cycle on these DC motors means they should not be run 24/7 - they will need cool down time or else you’ll find you’ll be needing to replace the motor quite frequently.
Sounds like I should try one of the stepper motors…
Given that I want to somehow mate up with Actobotics parts, so you have a recommendation for a particular motor and the needed mounting hardware?
Would the RB-Soy-03 or RB-Ada-138 be a better choice? These seem to be the only 2 motors that I for sure believe would work with 12V. I don’t mind spending more if you can make a recommendation, but I don’t have a need for double shaft.
Also, do you know of any sound dampening material or technique I might be able to use for the stepper?
Thanks for being so helpful, and prompt!
NEMA 14 mount (Actobotics compatible): robotshop.com/en/actobotics- … ma-14.html
NEMA 17 mount (Actobotics compatible): robotshop.com/en/actobotics- … ma-17.html
RB-Soy-03 is not evidently NEMA compatible (if it is, it’s not advertised by the manufacturer).
RB-Ada-138 is NEMA 17 and would work with the bracket above.
RB-Mkb-05 is a replacement motor, but it also NEMA compatible.
So long as the motor can cool off, you can pretty much use any acousting dampening material (like acoustic foam).
It’s best to counter-balance the load, and also support the shaft at the opposite end (if the load is a bit on the heavy side it might eventually cause the shaft to wobble).
