Cool little chip !!!

[mannster]

Check this chip out ! It has a built in chopper circuit and drives bipolar drives.

The bad news is 1 Amp maximum. ST L6219 Chip

Oh well, maybe somebody here can benefit from this. They are about $3 at Digikey. It seems like a low powered version of the 297/298 drivers we have here all in one chip at a super low cost.

Can the voltage be amplified somehow ???

[drawbar]

Take a look at the ST L6208. It also has current chopping, bipolar, will handle 2.8 Amps, and up to 55 Volt supply. But, it is a bit more expensive at $9.80 from Mouser.

http://www.st.com/stonline/books/pdf/docs/7514.pdf

Brian

[mannster]

Wow ! that IS awesome ! I may want to give that one a try later. The current handling capabilities are fine with me.

I found driver schematic for this : L6208 based board

But I will research this solution a little more before I try it.

[2muchstuff]

Why can't someone make one to handle 6 amps. I would be tempted to make up my own driver board verus buying a premade module.

[mannster]

You mean a chopper that peaks at 6 amps !? WOW !

I think the most important thing is beefing up the traces on a circuit board to handle that kind of current. The L298 handles a MAX 4 Amps and I believe you can "double" them up to increase the current handling capability.

Is this correct ???? If so, then this should make 6-7 amp handling possible.

QUOTE: ...For higher currents, outputs can be paralleled (see datasheet)

This could get interesting....

[2muchstuff]

I was never a big fan of doubling (piggybacking) things up. I still like using things that are in one package. It just seems that when there is some kind of oscillator or the like in both chips then one will be bucking the other due to tollerance differences between the two.

[mannster]

Gotcha.... Maybe you could just replace the 298 with your own discrete H-bridge circuit.

Hmmmm... this is a problem I will be facing in the future.

[2muchstuff]

Now that defeats the purpose of having everything in one nice neat tidy package. Now we are back to square one.

[gregmary]

If you are looking for that kind of current I think you will need to go with a discrete H-bridge. It all comes down to power disipation in the FETs and the only way to get more current through the chip is to be able to disipate the power that gets wasted in the junction. And the way to do that is use a larger die, thus you are limited to the number of transistors in one chip. Discrete fets are pretty cheap, about a buck apiece. What is wrong with using a controller chip and descrete H-bridge?

[H500]

There's a thread on a DIY spindle motor that is based on simple discrete h-bridge mosfet circuit and a driver chip. In THEORY, this will handle 10-20 amps at any voltage.

Don't forget that microstepping is essential with high performance motors. Otherwise, resonance is likely to make the system unusable.

[Mat-C]

Just to repeat: please don't double these things up
They need to be able to cut current/recirculate/etc.... and even if by some miracle that worked, what if they were on difference output phases?