Hi there I’m a complete novice at robots so please bear with me: Since I am now disabled I decided I want to build a radio controlled lawn mower as I cant push my mower anymore and I used to fly rc helicopters and planes I thought id have a go at an rc mower. I initially intend to use two 12v wiper motors to power the rear wheels but if the motors struggle I will fit two more to the front wheels so its 4 wheel drive, so my question is I believe the sabertooth 2x25 driver would be fine for two rear motors but what if I want to fit 4 motors, do I need 2 sabertooth 2x25 drivers or will one drive handle all 4 motors? or is there a better driver to use?
Any help would be most appreciated as I’m not very electrically minded, many thanks in advance !!!
How much current does each motor consume? If it’s around 10A maximum under continuous load, then connecting two of them to the same channel on the Sabertooth would mean a total os 20A, which is less than 25A, so it would work.
If it’s 4A each, then it’s a total of 8A, which is well under 25A, so even better. Note that the motors on the left side would operate the same (same speed and direction) since they’re connected to the same side on the controller, and same goes for the motors on the right side.
Hi coleman thanks for your reply very helpful ! The continuous load should be under 10A each but the stall load should be max 15A each = 30A max stall per channel but would only be for a short time if that happens so would that still be ok on the 2x 25 sabertooth? im guessing it would be as the description states it can handle 50A peak per channel for a few seconds and it does say it has an overload protection so if you could just confirm this it would be a great help!
Thanks again !!!
You understand the rationale and the risks, so it’s up to you.
You should never operate a motor at stall, and hopefully you are not operating the motor at max. load either.
25A per channel might be ok, but it’s really up to you if you want to play it safer and opt for a 30A+.