Using TIP41C to turn on and turn off Motor

[AnimaSolo]

I'm new to motors so here's my question:

Power supply:
12V 4.5A Battery
Motor current = 2.5A
Transistor : TIP41C

Here's the circuit diagram:

**broken link removed**

I just want to test if the 12V supply can turn on the TIP41C transistor. When I turn on the switch, the transistor gets REALLY hot (hurt my finger when I touched it ), and the motor turns VERY slowly.

Is the problem here because the base current is not enough to fully turn on the TIP41C transistor and thus the motor is not getting enough current to spin at it's maximum speed?

And is that amount of heat normal? When it became hot I immediately turned off the power.

Transistor Datasheet:
www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/tip41c-pdf.17194/

 

[4pyros]

yes it seems your base resistor is to high. how did you come up with 1K ohms? Andy

 

[cr0sh]

You also need a diode across the transistor's emmiter and collector (prevents spikes from the EM field destroying the transistor)...

 

[AnimaSolo]

Hi guys. Thanks for replying

Well I was just testing out the circuit and the smallest resistor I had was 1k. I did some calculations, and apparently I need a base resistor of around 50 ohms and I plan to get that. Thanks for the advice on the diode too.