"BTS7960 43A Motor Driver + 775 Motor Test | Which 775 is Best? | Arduino Speed & Direction Control"
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"Hey friends! Welcome back to Project Weekend - where ideas turn into machines. In this episode, we’re diving deep into a beast of a motor driver - the BTS7960B 43A H-Bridge - and testing it with some classic workhorse motors: the 775s. But not all 775 motors are the same... Some are fast, some are strong, some just sit there and hum."
"I recently got these four 775 motors for a future build — and today, we’re testing them! Two are normal shaft motors, and two have threaded rods. These 775s are everywhere in DIY: CNCs, drill presses, RC projects, even some e-bikes. But not all motors perform the same…"
"Here’s what happens at just 6 volts:
Both normal motors spin up smoothly.
The threaded ones? Not so much. One just hums. The other... well, it dreams about moving."
"With a little hand support, one of them slowly gets going. These need more voltage, and more current to start up."
"Now let’s talk about the threaded shaft 775 motors. These threads are meant for mounting accessories directly onto the shaft — like fans, grinding wheels, pulleys, or custom couplers."
"The extra material or threading can increase friction or weight, so these motors often need higher startup current. That’s why at low voltage like 6V, they may just hum or need a little hand-start to get going."
"So when testing, don’t judge a motor by its silence — check your supply voltage and current!"
"Let’s talk about 775 motor types you’ll find online:
Single Bearing: Cheaper, fine for light loads.
Double Bearing: More stable, durable under heavy loads.
Normal Shaft: Standard output for pulleys, gears.
Threaded Shaft: For linear motion projects.
Half Cut Shaft: for a better grip.
Extended Shaft: Gives flexibility for front/back usage."
"I even converted a single bearing motor into double bearing after its rear bushing wore out. Now it handles way more load and runs cooler! Comment below if you want a dedicated video on how to do this conversion and why it boosts performance."
"Now meet the power behind today’s test:
The BTS7960B 43A Motor Driver, also known as MD0012. It’s a serious upgrade from budget drivers like L298N — built for big motors like the 775."
"Features:
Supports 43A continuous with heat sinking.
Can handle up to 24V easily.
Dual BTS7960 chips = Full H-Bridge.
Controlled via PWM + direction pins.
Perfect for high-load applications like DIY tools, robots, CNCs."
"I’m controlling this setup with an Arduino Nano. I'm going to write some simple sketches to control the motor's direction and speed."
"Let’s get wired things."
"The BTS7960 43A motor driver requires a separate 5V logic supply to operate — it does not include an internal 5V regulator. So, we need to provide this 5V externally. If you're using an Arduino Nano, simply connect the Nano’s 5V pin to the driver's VCC, and also connect the GND of the Nano to the GND of the motor driver."
"If you're not using an Arduino and want to control the motor manually, you’ll still need to supply a stable 5V to the VCC pin of the motor driver from another source, like a buck converter or USB 5V supply."
"Now let’s hook up the control pins:
We'll connect the motor driver’s control pins:
R_EN (Right Enable)
RPWM (Right PWM)
L_EN (Left Enable)
LPWM (Left PWM)
to Arduino Nano’s digital pins D4 through D8."
"Next, the power and motor connections:
The BTS7960 has two internal half-bridge drivers, which combine to drive a single DC motor with full control over speed and direction. That’s different from the L298N motor driver, which I covered in one of my earlier videos — the L298N can control two motors, but it’s much less powerful."
"We use the BTS7960 here because it can handle high current, which is essential for running 775 DC motors that demand more power than what L298N can deliver."
"Now let’s take a closer look at the BTS7960 motor driver and understand what each pin actually does — because knowing this will save you hours of debugging."
"Logic Control Pins:
VCC: This is where you give the driver its logic power. It needs a clean 5 volts. And no, the driver doesn’t generate this by itself. So we connect the 5V from the Arduino Nano here."
GND: "This is the ground connection. You must tie this to your Arduino ground to complete the circuit."
RPWM and LPWM:
"These are the main control pins for motor direction and speed. You send PWM signals here. RPWM makes the motor spin in one direction, and LPWM spins it the other way. The higher the PWM value, the faster it goes."
R_EN and L_EN:
"These are the enable pins. Set them HIGH to activate the driver. Think of them like power switches for each direction — right and left."
R_IS and L_IS:
"These are current sense outputs. They give you a voltage signal proportional to the current being used by the motor. If you're not monitoring current, you can leave these unconnected."
"Okay, that’s the logic side. Now let’s talk about power and motor connections."
Motor Power Pins:
Motor VCC plus - This is where you connect your battery or power supply positive terminal.
Motor GND minus - Connect this to your battery negative. It’s important that this ground also connects back to the Arduino’s ground — all grounds must be common.
Motor Output Pins - Motor Out plus and Motor Out minus — These go directly to your DC motor. Depending on the PWM signals you send, the polarity across these pins will change, and that’s what controls the direction of rotation."
"So to summarize — VCC and GND power the logic, RPWM and LPWM tell it what to do, R_EN and L_EN turn it on, and the motor output does the spinning! Simple as that."
"In the next part, I’ll show you how to program Arduino Nano and start running a 775 motor with some fun speed and direction patterns."
"First, I define the PWM and enable pin connections from pins D5 to D8 on the Arduino Nano."
"Then, inside the setup function, I set all those pins as outputs using pinMode. This step tells the Arduino that we’ll be sending signals out through these pins."
"I also set both enable pins — R_EN and L_EN — to HIGH, which activates the motor driver and allows it to respond to our PWM inputs."
"Now, inside the loop() function, we start controlling the motor’s speed and direction."
"First, I write a command to turn the motor left at full speed for 3 seconds, then stop it for 2 seconds."
"Next, the motor spins right at full speed for another 3 seconds, followed by another short stop."
"After that, we repeat the same steps again, but this time using a lower speed, so you can see how it behaves when running slowly in both directions."
"Now, if you want to start the motor smoothly, gradually increasing speed from slow to fast, I’ll show you the code that does exactly that — by ramping up the PWM signal over time."
"And once it's at full speed, we’ll do the opposite — slow the motor down smoothly, reducing the speed step-by-step until it stops."
"Finally, we bring the motor to a complete stop and pause for 3 seconds before ending the sequence."
"You can find this code link in the description below!"
"Watch how the threaded motor behaves even with a high-power driver — needs more startup power. This is where proper current and a good motor driver matter.
The normal motors? Smooth as butter even under load."
"775 motors are everywhere:
DIY drill presses
Mini grinders
RC cars and e-bikes
CNC machines
Toy cars"
"But always pick the right motor for the right job — and test it with real loads!"
"Now, if your motors are low-power, check out my earlier video on using the L298N driver with Arduino — perfect for lightweight bots or small fans.
It supports two motors and basic PWM. Link in the description."
"Thanks for watching Project Weekend!
If you want that bearing conversion video, drop a comment!"
"Like if this helped you,
Share it with your maker friends,
And subscribe for more cool DIY breakdowns!"
"Until next time — stay curious, stay building!"
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