Problems communicating with steppermotor using serial monitor

Projects Programming
1

I want to activate the steppermotor depending on which key I press. I currently have two different ones which can be turned on. My goal is to hit "." to turn on 1 of them, and then "," to turn on the other. The LED turns on and the serial monitor prints the correct variable so the IF statements work at the end, however the motors do not turn on.

This is my code:

// MultiStepper.pde
// -- mode: C++ --

#include <AccelStepper.h>

//Stepper2 pins
#define STEPPER2_DIR_PIN 55
#define STEPPER2_STEP_PIN 54
#define STEPPER2_ENABLE_PIN 38

//Stepper3 pins
#define STEPPER3_DIR_PIN 61
#define STEPPER3_STEP_PIN 60
#define STEPPER3_ENABLE_PIN 56

AccelStepper stepper2(AccelStepper::DRIVER, STEPPER2_STEP_PIN, STEPPER2_DIR_PIN);
AccelStepper stepper3(AccelStepper::DRIVER, STEPPER3_STEP_PIN, STEPPER3_DIR_PIN);

int runStepper;

void setup()
{

stepper2.setMaxSpeed(300); //multi
stepper2.setAcceleration(150.0);
stepper2.moveTo(-3000); //negative values go forward, maximum is about 205000 from start.

stepper3.setMaxSpeed(300);
stepper3.setAcceleration(150.0);
stepper3.moveTo(-3000); //negative values go forward, maximum is about 140000 from start.

stepper2.setEnablePin(STEPPER2_ENABLE_PIN);
stepper2.setPinsInverted(false, false, true);
stepper2.enableOutputs();

stepper3.setEnablePin(STEPPER3_ENABLE_PIN);
stepper3.setPinsInverted(false, false, true);
stepper3.enableOutputs();

Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println(" Arduino Serial Servo Control");
Serial.println("Press < or > to move, spacebar to center");
Serial.println();

pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
runStepper = Serial.read();
if (runStepper == '.') {
stepper2.run();
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);
Serial.write("stepper2 should be on");
delay(2000);
}
if (runStepper == ',') {
stepper3.run();
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);
Serial.write("stepper3 should be on");
delay(2000);
}
Serial.write(runStepper);
delay(100);
}
}

2

You should not have any delay()s in code that uses stepper.run()

And you should have the stepper.run() statements outside of any IF statements. Just put them as the last lines in loop()

void loop() {

    // other stuff

    stepper2.run();
    stepper3.run();
}

When you receive a value you should just set (for example) stepper2.move(xxx); where xxx is the required number of steps

...R

3

Taking your advice, I changed the code to (Below). The motors are still not working though.

// MultiStepper.pde
// -- mode: C++ --

#include <AccelStepper.h>

//Stepper2 pins
#define STEPPER2_DIR_PIN 55
#define STEPPER2_STEP_PIN 54
#define STEPPER2_ENABLE_PIN 38

//Stepper3 pins
#define STEPPER3_DIR_PIN 61
#define STEPPER3_STEP_PIN 60
#define STEPPER3_ENABLE_PIN 56

AccelStepper stepper2(AccelStepper::DRIVER, STEPPER2_STEP_PIN, STEPPER2_DIR_PIN);
AccelStepper stepper3(AccelStepper::DRIVER, STEPPER3_STEP_PIN, STEPPER3_DIR_PIN);

int runStepper;

void setup()
{

stepper2.setMaxSpeed(300); //multi
stepper2.setAcceleration(150.0);
// stepper2.moveTo(-3000); //negative values go forward, maximum is about 205000 from start.

stepper3.setMaxSpeed(300);
stepper3.setAcceleration(150.0);
// stepper3.moveTo(-3000); //negative values go forward, maximum is about 140000 from start.

stepper2.setEnablePin(STEPPER2_ENABLE_PIN);
stepper2.setPinsInverted(false, false, true);
stepper2.enableOutputs();

stepper3.setEnablePin(STEPPER3_ENABLE_PIN);
stepper3.setPinsInverted(false, false, true);
stepper3.enableOutputs();

Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println(" Arduino Serial Servo Control");
Serial.println("Press < or > to move, spacebar to center");
Serial.println();

pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
runStepper = Serial.read();
if (runStepper == '.') {
stepper2.moveTo(-3000);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);
Serial.write("stepper2 should be on");
}
if (runStepper == ',') {
stepper3.moveTo(-3000);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);
Serial.write("stepper3 should be on");
}
Serial.write(runStepper);
}
stepper2.run();
stepper3.run();
}

4

I apologize, it did work, you are correct. Thank you.

5

bengals44:
I apologize, it did work, you are correct. Thank you.

Thanks for the update. Good to hear it is working.

...R