The MDD20A enables bidirectional control of two high-power brushed DC motors from 6V to 30V. With full discrete NMOS H-Bridge design, this motor driver is able to support 20Amp continuously for each motor without any heatsink. A lot of motor drivers in the market specify their current ratings according to the MOSFET specifications. This is highly inaccurate and overrated because the actual current capability is dependent on many other factors such as switching frequency, heatsink efficiency, PCB size, copper thickness and etc. At Cytron, we test all our motor drivers by running the motor at full load in our lab and monitor its temperature with thermal camera. This test is carried out until the temperature stops increasing and reaches a stable point (usually achieve in 15 minutes). This way, we can get the true current ratings for all our motor drivers.

 

The onboard test buttons and motors output LEDs allow functional test of the motor driver in a quick and convenient way without hooking up the host controller.This motor driver can be controlled with PWM and DIR inputs. With input logic voltage range from 1.8V to 12V, it’s compatible with wide variety of host controller (e.g. Arduino, Raspberry Pi, PLC).

 

Various protection features are also incorporated in each channel of the MDD20A. Overcurrent protection prevents the motor driver from damage when the motor stalls or an oversized motor is hooked up. When the motor is trying to draw current more than what the motor driver can support, the motor current will be limited at the maximum threshold.

 

Assisted by temperature protection, the maximum current limiting threshold is determined by the board temperature. The higher the board temperature, the lower the current limiting threshold. This way, MDD20A able to deliver its full potential depending on the actual condition without damaging the MOSFETs.