L293D Dual H-Bridge IC - Solenoid, DC & Stepper Motor Driver

The L293DNE Dual H-Bridge IC is able to run four solenoids, two DC motors or one bi-polar or uni-polar stepper motor, with up to 600mA per channel!

 

Each chip contains two full H-bridges (four half H-bridges) which means you can drive four solenoids, two DC motors bi-directionally, or one stepper motor. Just make sure they're good for under 600 mA since that's the limit of this chip. They do handle a peak of 1.2A but that's just for a short amount of time. What we like most about this particular driver is that it comes with built in kick-back diodes internally so you dont have to worry about the inductive kick damaging your project or driver