Patel Darshil
The project presented is a stepper motor/motor driver circuit board with SN754410 motor driver IC including some power saving features. The board can drive 2 DC motors or a stepper motor with the help of dual H bridge circuit in the IC. SN754410 IC is being widely used for driving motors as it operates in wide range of voltage and can drive up to 1A current per channel.
The additional thing here is the power switching circuit which will cut off the power to IC, this can be very power efficient than normal sleep modes. It needs an external signal from controller to turn ON the power to the driver circuit. The switching circuit is built around a couple of NPN transistors and a P channel MOSFET which will let the power flow only when we apply pulse to the circuit.
Using the switching circuit, the power consumption of the motor driver circuit is nothing and by applying a HIGH pulse to the switching circuit, one could easily use this board normally. Moreover, the IC is also capable of driving other loads such as relays or solenoids. Thus, with the additional power switching circuit, the board can become a very handy tool for makers.
Mark Rehorst
Cody
Silícios Lab