Hi all.
I was looking online to better understand what the enable pin does? From what I can see it is used to allow voltage and current to come into the driver. Is this correct?
If so, then for the following code:
pinMode(ENA, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(ENA, LOW);
digitalWrite(ENA, HIGH);
Does LOW mean we send nothing to the drive and vice versa for HIGH?
Could be different for different drives, What is your drives brand name and exact part number?
Here's a datasheet for the TB6600 chip.
TB6600 chip.
In general the ENA pin turns ON or OFF the output transistors that control current to the motor windings. If enabled, the drive will rotate the motor at a given speed or hold it still with "HOLDING TORQUE". If disabled the motor will be free to turn if more than "DETENT TORQUE" is externally applied.
Got it? 
No.
Low means that the pin is effectively looking like a ground.
High means it is looking like a 5V signal.
So in order for the driver to work the Enable pin must be high. If it is low then the device will not send out any voltage out to the coil. It is like the device is not connected to anything.
Hi,
Is this anything to do with this???
Thanks.. Tom..... 
Hi Tom,
Its part of the same project. I was just curious because we aren't using them yet, but I think we should be to conserve current.
When the drive is disabled then now current flows through the motor, so that will save current. But note also that the motor can then move if it subjected to an external torque load. That will mean the motor no longer knows where it is.
The TB6600 I've used the ENA being active disables the output to the stepper. Show Your wiring. There are different ways to wire it, meaning that a LOW to ENA- or a HIGH to ENA+ can activate the disable mode.
Yes but it is not a picture of the TB6600 Chip, as seen in post #2 .
Sure if you surround any chip with extra electronics you can get all sorts extra features. But at the end of the day the actual chip only behaves in one way. This is the problem of manufacturers giving the name of a product as the main chip involved.
We see this all the time, where someone says they have an XYZ, you never know if they have the actual chip or a board containing that chip and other components. AdaFruit are serial offenders in promoting this, and it confuses the hell out of beginners.
The chip is one thing and the full driver board, as I have, is another thing. The board uses opto isolated inputs, therefore the + and - possibilities.
The OP didn't specify the naked chip. That was done by @ JCA34F
Yes yet another case of someone asking a question and not supplying full information, and thinking we are all mind readers.
Hi everyone. Sorry for any confusion. I was only talking about the driver as a whole. I did not know anything about the chip or its existence. For clarity: I am only talking about the connections from the driver's green box part on the side as shown by Railroader. Currently we don't have any wires to the enable pins, so I will test out using them at the beginning of the week since I do not have access to the Lab that we store our stuff in.
Again sorry for the confusion.
Confusion still reigns, once again:
What is your drives brand name and exact part number?
Hi, @zeroelo
Can you please post a copy of your circuit, in CAD or a picture of a hand drawn circuit in jpg, png?
Hand drawn and photographed is perfectly acceptable.
Please include ALL hardware, power supplies, component names and pin labels.
Please NO Fritzy or cut and paste image picture diagram.
Can you please post some images of your project so we can see your component layout?
What is the exact part number of your stepper motor?
Thanks.. Tom..
Hi @TomGeorge
So here is the actually picture I have right now. I can get a better one in 2 days because right now I have to access to the storage room. Note the 12V source is rated at 8A output.
Componenets in use:
You mean 17HS4401!!!
Have you used your DMM to identify the two windings on the stepper?
What are the wire colours coming out of the stepper?
A better image of the stepper to 6600 connections would be good, to check your stepper winding to 6600.
Tom...
Oh no! Thank you for catching that! I think I definitely have my work cut out for the week. Will post progress.
Also just a followup, does the - + matter? like if I put the black to B+ and the green to B- would that be bad?
Yes.
Just swapping B+ and B- would make the motor vibrate and not step. As would just be swapping A+ and A-.
But if you swap A+ with A- and B+ with B- then it would still work only this time it would go in the opposite direction with the state of the DIR input than getting them both correct.
Not necessarily.
Calling product after the name of a chip is very confusing and something that should be avoided. Your lack of clarity over this matter caused great confusion on this thread.
We only know what you tell us and if you withhold information we are forced to make guesses, and this means you can get incorrect information. As was the case here. It is always best to post a link to the exact part you are using.
You might want to look at this How to get the best from this from this Forum before you proceed any further.
