Custom Board: drivers and Mosfests

Hi @Jan_Donker

My question is not focused on obtaining a specific part number for a concrete application. I was askiking for some guidelines to make a decision whn selecting MOSFETs to build a BLDC controller.

What I intend to design is a versatile board that allows me to learn and be used in a variety of later projects DIY projects. It is not a board for a certain project with a well defined and closed specification.

What you describe is called an evaluationboard. They are available from several brands. Most of them have quite a price-tag, but they can be made into many things. Still you will have to decide about some parameters.

Designing your own board may be a bridge too far. The manufacturer will make anything you specify and the result will look great, but chances are it will never work. I’ve been there. There’s a version number on most products for good reason.

Hi @Jan_Donker

What I am describing, or at least trying to describe is something like: Moteus , Betzdrive , Otres, Tinymovr or Drive BLDC . All of them are boards not targeted to any particular motor neither predefined application beyond being used to control a BLDC motor for a robotic like application.

Obviously the easiest thing to do is take out my wallet and pay for a board that has already been designed, produced, tested and it is ready to go … Not sure if my board will finally work but for sure in the process of trying I am learning a lot and this is something that can not be achieved by paying for a made product.

Further more, the satisfaction of designing something and turning it into an object that works just as you designed it is something that cannot be bought with money :slight_smile:

These are not evaluationboards but rather finished products.

I think these designers are at what I call level-3 :
level-1 : asks lots of questions
level-2 : solves own problems
level-3 : solves other people’s problems.

I think I’m at level 2.
You cannot skip level 2.

To go from level 1 to level 2 you need a breadboard and also an oscilloscope, power-supply, multimeter etc.
Useful parts would be BS170 mosfets and IR2110 driver ic’s, because they can be put on a breadboard.
And you would need a very small motor, the kind that drives a DVD-player.

I think there are 5-10 people in this forum who’ve recently made custom pcbs. I wonder how many people are like me and skip the breadboard stage :grin:. Skipping breadboard stage is somewhat possible if you are building a Franken-board, where sections of schematic are similar to other open source boards. I’ve looked at about 5 or 6 such boards for many hours.

My first board worked somewhat, closed loop hall sensors 6pwm driving hoverboard motor, but then burnt out due to bad ldo choice when i went above 12v. :frowning:

For me it’s about the journey! I’m happy to make mistakes.

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Of course. My simple rule is that what I learned must be worth more than it cost.
And if you copy someone’s design, make sure you understand why they did it that way.
Otherwise you may be copying someone else’s mistakes.

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