I am not smart enough to use an Arduino yet. I have 4 Usongshine Nema 17 Stepper Motors (rated current 1.5A) (rated volts 3.6) (17HS4401S) with 4-leads
I would like to control all 4 motors at the same time, using the same program, by using a 42 57 Stepper Motor Driver Controller Integrated Board (Power supply DC 10-30V, (Drive capability 4A (MAX) ZK-SMCO2.
There will be no loads on the motors. Is there a problem with this configuration? What size hook-up wire is needed. What size AC/DC adapter would be required?
For 'power' circuits I use 20awg which is overkill. AC/DC adapter is your countries line voltage for AC, and 30VDC at a minimum of 6A, I would go at least 10 if not more just in case.
I just noticed something, you say the steppers are 3.6V, that is very low, did you mean 36V?
I think you need a different controller, look for one on the Pololu web site at https://www.pololu.com
Most of steppers have rated voltage around 3V and X amps. It doesn't mean you should drive them at that voltage, 24V performs much better, just take care of max amps. And heat.
Yes. A stepper motor driver is designed to control one stepper motor.
Since there will be no load on the steppers, you don't need to drive them at the rated current. An inexpensive A4988 or DRV8825 will work fine, one per motor, if you follow instructions to set the current limit to 1 Ampere or less.
As already mentioned, those stepper drivers are designed to drive on motor only. So you need one per motor.
To select an adequate power supply you need to calculate the power the stepper needs. 1.5A/3.6V means 5,4W per coil or ~11W per motor. Regarding losses and some headroom I would suggest the PSU should be able to deliver >22W per motor.
If you set the current to a less value at the driver ( because the steppers run without load ) the needed power of the PSU is less too.
Thank you all for the information. Would it be safe to run just two motors from one module? volts doesn't to be a problem and two motors drawing 3A (1.5 + 1.5). Does it make a difference if I wire the motors in series or parallel?
Another source: " You can wire two motors to one driver without halving the current, or loosing any torque. If you wire them in series rather than parallel, they will see the same current. The trade-off is the effective voltage to each motor will be halved instead, and this limits how fast you can run motors. I have my Y-axis wired this way; two Nema23's wired to one DRV8711 driver set to 2A with a 24v motor supply. My testing show that the reduced max speed of the steppers at an effective 12v each was still faster than my GRBL controller could provide steps."