Advice about DC Motors - PWM

[dimitre]

I'm working in a project using DC Motors, I'm more in the software / firmware side,
one question: how does PWM speed affect DC motor speed control? the faster the better?
I'm testing in an Arduino Mega (specified by others) but testing on Teensy 4.0 also,
even using SoftPWM the LED test seems a lot smoother than Arduino.

I know it is a Teensy forum, and I prefer Teensy, but the simple question is : the faster the better?
Thank you

 

[PaulS]

how does PWM speed affect DC motor speed control? the faster the better?

I'm assuming that by "PWM speed" you mean PWM frequency?
Back to your question. The answer is probably: it depends.
Found this article to be interesting. Adafruit also has a nice guide.

Although I have limited knowledge about DC motors, this might help you further.

Paul

 

[bicycleguy]

... but the simple question is : the faster the better?
Thank you

The simple answer is no. Full on is 256 time units on and 0 time units off so no matter the frequency of the on/off it's full on.

see https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_pulse.html the 'Filtering PWM for Analog Output' example and the following talk about why you might want to increase the frequency. It doesn't mention motors but in general the default 488Hz of the T3.2 works great for dc motors used in PID control.