Sabertooth Dual 25A Motor Driver User's Guide

Status and Error LEDs
Sabertooth 2x25 has three indicator LEDs.
The blue LED marked Status1 is used to
communicate various information about the
current state. In most cases Status1 acts as a
power indicator. In R/C mode, it glows dimly if
there is no RC link present and brightly if there
is an RC link.
The blue LED marked Status2 is only used in
lithium mode. It blinks to indicate the number of
lithium cells detected.
The red Error LED illuminates if the Sabertooth has detected a problem. It will light if the driver
has shut down due to a depleted battery or due to overheating, overcurrent or overvoltage. If you
are using a NiCd or NiMH battery, and commanding an acceleration causes the motor to jerk and
the Error LED to flash on and off, the battery is depleted.
Mounting your Sabertooth 2x25
The Sabertooth is supplied with four mounting holes. These
can be used to attach it to your robot. The centers of the
mounting holes form a 1.75” x 2.25” rectangle. The holes
are .125 inches in diameter. The proper size screw is a 4-40
round head machine or wood screw. Four 5/8” long
machine screws and nuts are included.
If your robot or device is constructed from insulating
materials such as wood or plastic, it may be necessary to
mount the Sabertooth on standoffs to allow air to circulate.
An example is shown in Figure 2.3
If your robot or device is constructed from metal, it is
usually better to attach the bottom heat spreader of the
Sabertooth directly to the frame, without standoffs. This
will allow your frame to act as a heat sink and will cause
the Sabertooth to run cooler. This is shown in Figure 2.4
All Status LEDs on
Figure 2.3: Mounted to a wood
frame using standoffs
Figure 2.4: Mounted directly to a
metal frame