Review on 🔌 Enhance Raspberry Pi with Adafruit DC & Stepper Motor HAT – Mini Kit for Powerful Motor Control by Bobby Porter

After a little soldering, this board is easy to install and use. The best thing about Adafruit is probably the tutorials and software packages they provide. I have never used Python and was able to move my new stepper motor within an hour which is amazing. The board is extremely flexible, allowing easy connection of up to 4 independent DC motors or two stepper motors (or one stepper motor and 2 DC motors etc.). Breadboard space and power rails are also very useful. However, I gave it one star because it has some disadvantages, especially as a stepper motor driver. Firstly, it doesn't have a current limit function - and that's normal, he never said that. But for many applications (including mine) a current limiting chopper drive is very useful as it allows higher voltages to be applied which in turn gives higher torque at high speeds. Which brings me to the biggest problem - high speeds. For a DC motor this shouldn't be a problem. But I couldn't get my unloaded stepper motor to run faster than 20-30 rpm (using RPi 3, 200 stepper motor, Adafruit python stepper motor code, full step mode). I suspect this is because it has a dedicated PWM driver chip that communicates with the RPi over I2C, which is slow and limits switching speed. I ended up buying these little chopper drivers for my project: Robotlinking A4988 Stepstick Stepper Motor Driver Module + Heatsink for 3D Printer Reprap (5-pack) Since I can toggle them with a simple pulse from one of the RPi's GPIO pins, I can the motor spins much, much faster. So fast that it seems limited by the motor's mechanical capabilities, not the driver's switching speed. To sum it up, Adafruit is second to none as a tool for learning and rapid prototyping. If you're looking for an easy-to-use generic motor driver for your Raspberry Pi, look no further. If you need a driver that can drive a stepper motor at high speeds (over 20RPM), you are probably better off using a dedicated stepper motor like the A4988.