Basic Pin Connection on the L298N Dual H-Bridge
L298N Motor Controller Theory and Projects
In this series we will explore how to use the L298N in a number of actual tested and functioning circuits. The part is inexpensive costing under $2 on Ebay. It can source/sink up to four amps at about 40 volts with proper heat sinking.
As shown in the above illustrations I have redrawn the "multi-watt" package into a more understandable form. Internally the L298N consists of four independent power amps with 5-volt digital inputs and four high current, high voltage power amplifiers capable of driving single DC motors, and both unipolar and bi-polar stepper motors.
The four amplifiers are usually used in pairs forming an H-bridge to switch polarity for to control the direction of a single DC motor or as two pairs of H-bridges a bi-polar stepper motor. This part seems to be the favorite of hobby robot builders.
Basic circuit configuration L298N
More Detailed Explanation
Pictured above is the basic L298N circuit used to drive inductive/magnetic loads. One of the annoying features of the unit is the lack of internal parasitic (flywheel) diodes to deal with voltage spikes. D1 - D8 are used for this purpose. They can be 1N5819 Schottky diodes. I have used more common 1N4001 rectifier diodes and they seem to work fine. Perhaps an updated version will include these internally.
The four power amplifiers and grouped in pairs of two with individual enable pins (ENA, ENB) and individual current sense pins (CSA, CSB) for each pair. The current sense pins in general can be tied to ground, but one can insert low value resistor, whose voltage reading is proportional to current.
ENA, ENB, and In1-In4 are all standard 5-volt TTL logic making connection to most micro-controllers easy. ENA will turn on A1 and A2 when with a digital HIGH (5-volts) and off when LOW (0 volts); the corresponding outputs will be floating when off. Same is true of ENB, In3 and In4. ENA and ENB can be connected directly together to enable both channels at once or simply tied to +5 volts and both channels making all four outputs active at all times.
A 5-volt TTL level input to In1, In2 In3, or In4 will produce a corresponding output of Vm (motor voltage) minus about a volt.
Shown in figure 3 the power amps have connected in parallel for double the power at the cost of operating one bi-directional load such as a DC motor. The two enable pins should be tied together. Take care to parallel channel1 with channel 4 and channel 2 with channel 3.
Figure 5 shows the L298N being used with a 74LS04 HEX inverter to allow only three digital pins to control two separate DC motors. In this case the circuit can be used in a X-Y axis setup such as one finds on a small CNC machine. While wired together here, the two enable pins can be separated to turn each individual motor on/off separately.
Shown above is a pre-assembled board I bought off Ebay for $8 with shipping. This included power connectors, diodes, LED indicators, and even a 5-volt regulator. This is in my opinion the smart way to go to save time, money, and effort.
This completes our introduction to the L298N dual full bridge driver. In the proceeding sections we will connect the L298N to a micro-controller to operate a bi-polar stepper motor and explore using pulse-width-modulation (PWM) to control motor speed on a standard DC motor.
- Considerations for Using Stepper Motors
- How to Connect Easy Driver Micro-Stepper Controller to Arduino
- Using a Unipolar Stepper Motor with a Arduino
- Using the MC3479 Stepper Motor Controller with Arduino
- Connecting the Arduino to a L298N H-Bridge
- L298N Motor Controller Theory and Projects
- Arduino stepper motor control YouTube
- Using Hall Effect Switches and Sensors
- Basic Transistor Driver Circuits for Micro-Controllers
- Opto-Isolated Transistor Drivers for Micro-Controllers
- Build a H-Bridge Motor Control with Power MOSFETS
- Build a 12AV6 Vacuum Tube AM Radio
- Coils for Highly Selective Crystal Radio
- Adding a Push-Pull Output Stage to a Lm386 Audio Amplifier
- Using Hall Effect Sensors with Alternating Current
- Using Hall Effect Switches and Sensors
- Using Ratiometric Hall Effect Sensors
- Using Hall Effect Sensors with the Arduino-ATMEGA168
- TL173C 12-Volt Ratiometric Hall Sensor (PDF file)
- UGN3503 5-Volt Ratiometric Hall Effect Sensor (PDF file)
- SS466 Hall Latch (PDF file)