Motor Supression

[blazerbotics]

Whats the best way to supress motors in a robot? As i understand there are 2 main ways, one is just to have a capacitor over the brushes, the other is have a capacitor across the brushes and then another capacitor from each brush to ground. Ive read a few articles on the web, half say just to use the first method, the other saying to use the second method. Ive always just put one capacitor over the brushes and left it at that. Does it make any major difference?

[stb]

Use the first method in a robot. The second is better if you use 230V AC with a ground wire.

Have Fun
STB

[talulah]

The second method can be used if the body of the motor is grounded - in which case the caps must be as short as possible to the motor case. If long wires are used then the inductance of them will cause the caps to be useless.

If you are having problems with one configuration it is always worth a try using the other!