We have seen the N20 DC gear motors being used in many everyday gadgets to DIY projects from electric screwdrivers to line-following robots. Their compact size and versatility make them ideal for projects or products that need a geared motor with size constraints. But working with them often poses challenges—especially when soldering connections to their brushes. One other challenge while using these motors is to select an appropriate motor driver, and most often using external modules will increase the size of the project. To solve these problems Rain Haase, an Australian tech YouTuber came up with a new N20 motor driver board called the Tiny Drive. The Tiney Drive can be soldered directly onto the motor’s back, only taking up very little space, Which we normally don’t even use.
At the heart of Tiny Drive is the DRV8212, a highly efficient motor driver IC from Texas Instruments, chosen for its low resistance H-bridge and minimal heat dissipation. The board includes additional components like capacitors for managing high startup currents and TVS diodes to protect against voltage spikes caused by abrupt motor stops. Thoughtfully designed for ease of use, Tiny Drive offers large solder pads for motor brushes, LED indicators for movement, and even an option to disable LEDs for low-power applications. The compact PCB design makes use of the space around the motor, fitting snugly above and below the brushes while ensuring robust performance during demanding tasks. During testing, the board demonstrated impressive resilience, operating at manageable temperatures even under stall conditions, thanks to its efficient layout and component selection. Haase even built a Sumo robot to test out the Tiny Drive’s capabilities. The Tiny Drive-powered Sumo robot was able to push weights up to 2kg. The Tiny Drive should also work with N10, N30, N40, and N50 motors, as long as the current requirements of the motor are below around 4 amps at the stall.
