Can the Waveshare stepper motor hat drive a DC motor?

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

Hi all,

I am new to robotics and have a general question about motor controllers.
I need to drive a 12v stepper motor and a 12v DC motor and I would like to supply the power to the Raspberry Pi and to the motor drive board from the same inlet.

I though of using the Waveshare stepper motor hat (https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/Stepper_Motor_HAT). It can drive two stepper motors and can directly supply the 5v to raspberry pi as well so it will solve a big chuck of my problem. But I am not sure if this hat can drive my DC motor. As far as I understand the theory a driver that can run a stepper motor should be able to run a DC motor as well. But there are no description for this hat that mentions a DC motor.

Can you please let me know if this hat will be able to drive my DC?

And if not, do you have any other suggestion as to how I may be able to achieve my goal with other available parts?

Thanks a lot
Best
Mo

2

Hi @mmd_knr

Thank you for joining RobotShop Community.

You could run a DC motor with the shield. However, controlling the speed would likely be more difficult for a new user, if you are not comfortable with stepper motor drivers. To control the speed, you would need to pulse the step pin .

You can refer to this post to help you: Very low cost 2A dual DC motor driver with cool features

If you want something easier, you could simply go for a DC motor driver for your 12V DC motor. What are the specs of this motor exactly?