An H-bridge DC motor driver with a configurable current limit (0.2 or 1A) and up to four different I2C addresses. Great for DIY robot builds.

This little brushed DC motor driver is speed-controllable, bi-directional, and has a configurable current limit that can be increased to 1A (from 0.2A) by bridging the pads on the underside of the board. You can use up to four at once, and control them independently, by changing the I2C address (configurable by cutting one or both of the address traces).

The DRV8830 breakout has an I2C interface and is 3.3V or 5V compatible. Like Pimoroni’s other Breakouts, they designed it so that you can solder a piece of right-angle header onto it and then pop it straight onto the bottom left 5 pins on your Raspberry Pi’s GPIO header (pins 1, 3, 5, 6, 9).

Features

• DRV8830 motor driver (datasheet)
• Speed, direction, and braking control
• Bright white status LED
• Configurable current limit (0.2 or 1A)
• 3.3V or 5V compatible
• I2C interface (addresses 0x60, 0x61, 0x63, 0x64)
• Reverse polarity protection
• Raspberry Pi-compatible pinout (pins 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
• Compatible with all models of Raspberry Pi, and Arduino
• Python library

Kit includes

• DRV8830 Breakout
• 1×5 male header
• 1×5 female right-angle header

Software

We’ve put together a Python library that you can use to control your DRV8830 Breakout, with easy control over speed, direction, braking, and a bunch of other functions. Nice!

Notes

• The text saying “I2C: 0x60 to 0x68” on the underside of the board is incorrect. The address range is 0x60, 0x61, 0x63, and 0x64.
• Dimensions: 22x19x12mm