AccelStepper and iShield incompatibility

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hi,

I am trying to get a stepper motor and flashing light to work with Bluetooth, but I can't get it all to work together properly.

I can get just the motor and light to work together, with the motor rotating correctly.

I can also get the flashing light and Bluetooth to work together, BUT when I add the stepper motor to it, it simply vibrates instead of rotating.

There appears to be some incompatibility between the stepper motor and the bluetooth library, but I can seem to figure it out.

If anyone has run into this issue, or can provide some guidance, it would be really appreciated.

Libraries I am using:
#include "Boards.h"
#include <SPI.h>
#include <RBL_nRF8001.h>
#include "iShield.h"
#include <AccelStepper.h>

I've tried commenting out everything but the stepper code to get to a baseline where the stepper code is working. Then I've tried uncommenting bit by bit, to see what introduces the issue, and it appears to be the call to ble_begin();

Anyone out there who can help?

HERE'S THE SAMPLE CODE (uncommenting the ble_begin() statement results in the motor vibrating but not turning):

#include "Boards.h"
#include <SPI.h>
#include <RBL_nRF8001.h>
#include "iShield.h"
iShield myiShield;

#include <AccelStepper.h>

AccelStepper stepper(AccelStepper::FULL4WIRE, 8, 9, 10, 11);

void setup()
{
// Initialize and start BLE library.
// ble_begin();
// Serial.begin(9600);
// ble_set_name((char *)"STEPPER W BLUETOOTH");

stepper.setMaxSpeed(1000);
stepper.setSpeed(300);
}

void loop()
{
stepper.runSpeed();
}

2

It seems that you are using pins for the stepper that the iShield.h file assigns to the Bluetooth module.

#if defined(BLEND_MICRO)
#define DEFAULT_REQN    6
#define DEFAULT_RDYN    7
#else
#define DEFAULT_REQN    9
#define DEFAULT_RDYN    8
#endif
3

I thought that on the Bluetooth board, these pins were the REQN and RDYN pins, which are a different set of pins than the Digital pins. However, I did try moving the digital pins 8 and 9 pins over to 2 and 3, but I am getting the same result.

I'm using this board: