Advantages of L298 over L293

Reason of Choosing L298 Motor Driver 

The L298 chip is the bigger brother to the L293 chip (a popular small-motor driver IC), but the L298 handles more current, and more voltage - just what you need for those robots that need more power!

One of the first realizations in robotics is that making something move isn’t an easy task. There are many ways to strengthen (”buffer”) a signal so it’s strong enough to drive a large load like a motor. Transistor H bridge circuits, buffer chips, and dedicated motor driving chips are all suitable candidates, with their own benefits and

limitations.

We’re using the well-proven L298 for this design, as it has practically all the features that r need in a good motor driver, including thermal-shutdown, meaning that it will slow down and stop if overloaded (rather than melting down in a catastrophic manner!).

Adding a low-drop out regulator lets you tap off 5V for any other circuitry you may want to drive, and the indicator LEDs are always very useful when monitoring the behaviors of circuit.

Tech Spec:-

L298 has current capacity of 2A per channel @ 45V compared to 0.6 A @ 36 V of a L293D. L293D’s package is not suitable for attaching a good heat sink, practically you can’t use it above 16V without frying it. L298 on the other hand works happily at 16V without a heat sink, though it is always better to use one.

There are several versions of the 16 pin L293s.

The 293D is a 600 ma. 16 pin DIP that has on chip suppressor diodes. 

The 293B is a 1 amp 16 pin DIP that does not have on chip diodes.

For ease of circuit use the L293 is much easier to use due to is dip package, and the L298 is a right bugger of a package to route the pins out from, but it is a bigger driver and will handle more current. it also works very well when used with the L297 chip.