Hi I have been working with both the Stepper NEMA 17 - DRIVER A4988 to move some gears and stuff, first everything work perfectly just by connecting everything with my Arduino UNO as I power both my Arduino and my Stepper with two 9V batteries, lately my project stopped working and I'm trying to figure out was wrong so...
I want to know how to check if either my driver or my stepper are burned as I never regulated the driver to the right amperage, but it still worked for like two weeks.
Please help, my project must be completed tomorrow!
You can easily check the windings in the motor by measuring the resistance with your multimeter.
The most effective way to test the driver is to try a known good driver.
The drivers have a lot of in-built protection - especially for overloads. The one thing that is almost guaranteed to break a driver is disconnecting (even briefly) a wire between the driver and the motor while the driver is powered.
For example I connect a LED a pair of wires of the stepper, and i turned the stepper shaft the LED turns on (with both of pairs), does that means the stepper works?
For the driver I regulary connect and disconnect the power from it with the arduino still on, as I plug the battery driver with my fingers or tape (noob here, i know), but the wires between driver and motor are soldered, as all the other connections in the driver. So I have turn on and off the driver multiple times with the arduino still on, and the other way around (don't know the correct way to turn it on and off)
Connect the driver to an appropriate motor and a suitable power supply, adjust the current limit properly (to 1.0 A or less) and test operation with a known working program.
The motor you have will work with the A4988 driver, as long as the current limit is set to 1 A or less.
colmo007:
For example I connect a LED a pair of wires of the stepper, and i turned the stepper shaft the LED turns on (with both of pairs), does that means the stepper works?
That does not sound like what I suggested.
For the driver I regulary connect and disconnect the power from it with the arduino still on, as I plug the battery driver with my fingers or tape (noob here, i know), but the wires between driver and motor are soldered, as all the other connections in the driver. So I have turn on and off the driver multiple times with the arduino still on, and the other way around (don't know the correct way to turn it on and off)
It is the wires between the motor and the driver that matter - and from what you say they have good connections.
colmo007:
As I already got new drivers, i really just want to know if my stepper drivers stills works, any way to quickly check if it's not broken??
Yes there is. If you have a spare stepper motor of the same kind, and if you drive it with your existing driver .... and if it works, then you can assume that your original motor might have a problem.
Alternatively, have new drivers and a spare stepper (of the same kind)...... and if the new driver works with the new stepper, and if you then put in your old motor ----- you will then find out if it still works properly.
I agree that the steppers should be powered by something substantial. Two 9V batteries is not recommended.