Cytron FD04A 4-Channel Motor Driver

The Cytron FD04A 4-Channel Motor Driver is specially designed to drive four DC brush motors. It can be used to drive more than two motors which are needed on Omni to drive the mobile robot. It offers low cost and easy to use DC motor driver capable of driving up 4 DC brush motor, and the current can goes up to 3-Ampere.

With minimum interface the board is ready for driving motor with direction, start, stop and speed control. Flexibot Driver 4 Channels (FD04A) is specially designed to drive up to 4 DC brush motors.

It offers low cost and easy to use DC motor driver capable of driving up 4 DC brush motors and the current can goes up to 3-Ampere. By interfacing with Arduino Duemilanove (Arduino-Due) – Obsolete, replace with Arduino UNO, the board is ready for driving up motors with direction, start, stop and speed control. Arduino Duemilanove is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328.

It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. The pins mapping for ATmega328 is essential and by choosing an Arduino microcontroller, it allows users to process inputs and outputs going to and from the chip in a simpler way in terms to control the motors easily.

In addition, further interface with PS2 Controller Starter Kit (SKPS) will allow users to control the motors with the PS2 controller through Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) which will establish a serial communication between Arduino and SKPS.

Features :

• Industrial grade PCB.
• Vmotor: 7 V to 25 V DC.
• Each component is soldered properly and tested.
• Able to drive 4 DC motor at 2.5A (peak), 1.5A continuously.
• Bi-directional control for 4 DC motors.
• 2 LEDs as a direction indicator for each motor.
• 1 LED as a power indicator.
• A pluggable connector for more user-friendly design.
• Fully compatible with Cytron DIY project, Flexibot – Using Transwheel (PR19).
• Dimensions : 107 x 53 x 12 (LxWxH) mm.

Improvement in Rev2.0:

• Upgrade 80% of the component to SMD and uses SMD method to produce better reliability!
• Smaller size.
• Additional test/manual buttons for each channel for fast verification and manual control of the motor.
• Vmotor polarity protection.
• 5V is more needed for operation.
• Smaller toggle switch for ON and OFF.

Specifications:

• Driver Model: Cytron FD04A
• Operating Voltage(VDC): 45839
• Recommended Operating Volage: 7~12V
• Peak Current (A): 2.5
• Continuous Current (A): 1.5
• No. of Channels: 4
• Operating Modes: PWM (Lock-Antiphase and Sign-Magnitude): Yes, UART: No, Analog:No, RC Servo Signal: No
• Battery Protection Mode: No
• Over-Current Protection (A): Yes
• Thermal Protection: Yes
• LED Indicator: Yes
• Test/Manual Button: Yes
• Cooling Fan: NO
• Polarity Protection: Yes
• Others: Power Switch On board power switch
• Dimensions in mm (LxWxH): 107 x 53 x 12
• Weight (g): 50

Package Includes :

• 1 x  4 Channel Motor Driver- FD04A Module

Useful Links :

• Sample Project and Source Code: Flexibot – Using Transwheel 
• “Sample Source Code”
• “Interfacing FD04A and SKPS with Arduino”