Newbie - Incremental Increase in RPM on DC motor?

[lprevs]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering how I could incrementally increase the voltage going to a DC motor without an arduino. The motor is 6 volts. Is this possible? And what exactly is a soft start motor?

Thanks,
lprevs

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Usually variable motor control is done now by way of a PWM control.
Soft start usually refers to power being applied with gradual increase from zero, rather than full voltage.
Max.

 

[dknguyen]

Well if the battery is 6V you can only ever run it slower than that. You could do it with a 555 timer wired to PWM driving a power MOSFET transistor which drives the motor in turn. Is there a reason you won't accept an arduino?

 

[ClydeCrashKop]

 

[dr pepper]

A 555 and a 4017 might do the trick, look up 4000 logic ic's.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

If you want a simple PWM controller there is http://www.discovercircuits.com/DJ-Circuits/simplepwm2.htm
Also for a couple of $$'s on ebay.
Max.