I've got a couple of stepper motors I want to use in a project. They are HT23-401 motors rated at 3VDC and 3amps. Does anyone know of an off-the-shelf shield(s) that I can use, with an R3, to control these steppers? I've been searching, but haven't found one that goes down to 3VDC. Thanks.
You've got the part number wrong I think - HT23-401 seem to be 2.15A 2 ohm motors, not 3A 1 ohm.
There are no high current stepper shields I know of, but plenty of industrial stepper driver units capable
of 2 to 5A steppers.
The 3V is an irrelevancy, steppers like this are current-driven, usually from a 24/36/48V supply (more
volts = higher top speed).
First measure your winding resistance and see if its 1 ohm or 2...
Thanks MarkT. The motor is in fact, a HT23-401 (I’ve attached a photo of the info plate). The plate specs it as a 1 ohm. Do you have any specifics on the industrial driver units?
Well that's a different winding from the data google finds, but most motors are available in a range
of windings including bespoke.
3A is too high for any single-chip driver, you're in the realm of Geckodrives and cheap chinese
stepper driver units from eBay then.
In general if you can get away with a 1.5A stepper, the driver is going to be much cheaper.
Of course if you need the speed there is no substitute for a really low impedance motor.