The Cerebellum includes a motor driver circuit, centered around the L298 Dual full bridge driver IC. The L298 allows the Cerebellum to drive two motors with two amps of current each at voltages between 7 and 45 volts.

Choosing the motor power supply

The motor driver circuit can be powered through either the main Cerebellum input power, or an external motor power supply. See using the power bus for information on how to configure your Cerebellum to use external motor power. If you are using motors which run at voltages greater than 12 V, we recommend that you use the external supply, and power the Cerebellum at a lower input voltage.

Always fuse external motor power supplies if you are using them. The Cerebellum's protective fuse does not protect the motor driver circuit when it is powered by external power. We recommend that you use a four amp fast acting fuse on your external supply.

Adding additional heatsinking to the motor driver

At high continuous currents and voltages, it is possible that you will need to increase the heatsinking on the L298 motor driver IC. If this is the case, we recommend mounting the Cerebellum near a ventilation fan, or using a larger heatsink.