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Newbie needs help

UTEP StudentUTEP Student Posts: 6
edited 2006-03-07 19:04 in Robotics
I've been glancing over the forum's to try and get a feel for stpper motors only to be even more confused than when I started, namely in the area as to how you can control them with a microcontroller (like the BS2p40). Do you need seperate hardware to control them? How many pins from the micro·does each motor need?

Please help

Comments

  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2006-03-07 17:26
    We have documentation on our web site with our stepper that should help:

    http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/motors/Stepper_Motor_27964.pdf

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
  • UTEP StudentUTEP Student Posts: 6
    edited 2006-03-07 18:24
    Ok so it looks like I need a driver between the microcontroller and the stepper motor to make it work. It also looks like I would need 4 pins from the microcontroller for one motor for the motor shown in the link, but does this pin arrangement change for stronger or weaker motors and theyre drivers?
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2006-03-07 19:04
    For a four-coil stepper you will need four I/O pins -- unless you insert an intelligent driver or do some pin trickery (Scott Edwards shows how in the original BS1 app notes). For unipolar motors you can use the ULN2803 as shown in that document; for bi-polar or unipolar steppers you can use the L293D. The current version of StampWorks shows the connections for the L293D.

    You'll need to check your motor current ratings against the output capability of the ULN2803 or L293D. Very large steppers will probably require a specialized driver cicuit.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
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