Control two 5v stepper motors with single arduino board

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hi all,

I am seeking to run two 5v stepper motors ( both with their individual uln2003 driver boards) of the one arduino board.

Just wondering if it is possible. It has been done with Patrick McCabes Da Vinci project ( see picture 3/4ths down the page of the wiring of two driver boards to the ardunio da Vinci )

Would anyone be able to shed some light on how he connected the power cables from the ULN2003 board to ardunio (http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/339/893/435/435893339_121.jpg) ?

Thanks in advance.

Anu

2

Use "proper" stepper motor driver boards such as the Pololu A4988. Much simpler.

...R

3

Good advice. But it is possible with your board.

4

Thanks for that guys.

I will probably end up getting 2 better stepper motor such as
http://www.robotgear.com.au/Product.aspx/Details/410-Stepper-Motor-Bipolar-200-Steps-Rev-12V-0-33A-2300g-cm-torque

On google i couldn't find anyone who had connected two of the above mentioned motors to 1 a4988 Driver, or do you need to connect them to two drivers and then wire it to the arduino board?

If it is two drivers, then how do i connect them both to the Arduino?

Thanks

Anu

5

Hi, I'm wanting to run 2 stepper motors off the same board as well, for a radio controlled rowing boat.

My initial thought was to piggyback them off the driver board.

Would this be possible?

Then reverse the polarity (or the input voltage) on one of them, so they run in opposite directions.

Is this possible?

Then add an electronic speed controller to control the rate of the RPM on both of the motors.

I've got the UNO, and so far my blinking lights are working well!

thanks
Mick

6

Stepper motors don't change direction by changing polarity like with a DC motor. The order of the pulses determines the direction so, if you have two motors connected to one driver board they will always move in the same direction. You can get stepper motors in which the shaft sticks out both sides so you could drive (say) two wheels on the same axle.

I don't think it would be practical to drive two motors off one driver board. The driver boards are designed to limit the current to a single motor and they would have no method to apportion current between two motors. If one of them had a higher load it may draw excess current and let the smoke out.

I don't think there would be any problem driving two stepper driver boards from a single Arduino pin so that both stepped at exactly the same time.

...R