Motor drivers
Match the driver to motor current and control style first. A 1.5A H-bridge breakout, a 43A BTS7960 and an I2C PWM expander solve very different problems, even under the same label.
H-bridge breakouts from 1A to 43A (DRV8871, TB6612FNG, BTS7960), stepper drivers (A4988, TMC260, TB6600), I2C servo/solenoid controllers, and Pi/Arduino shields — sized by current and protocol.
- DRV8871 (3.6A), Gravity TB6612FNG (2x1.2A) and Fermion HR8833 (2x1.5A) cover small brushed motors; L298N boards like the MDV 2x2A are older, lossier H-bridges that drop more voltage.
- For high current, the BTS7960 dual driver handles 43A, Cytron's MD13S 13A, and Dimension Engineering's Sabertooth (dual 5A/12A) and SyRen (10–50A) add regenerative drive plus serial and RC control modes.
- The PCA9685 16-channel 12-bit PWM driver is I2C servo control, not an H-bridge — it can't reverse a motor. Adafruit's I2C 8-channel solenoid driver is the same idea for inductive loads.
- Raspberry Pi gets dedicated boards — Pololu's DRV8835 dual driver kit, the Dual G2 high-power driver, ThunderBorg and PicoBorg — while Arduino keeps the Motor Shield R3 and the Romeo all-in-one.
