Arduino + Driver Board & Stepper motor

Hey Stuart

The images is showing a driver baord.  He is using the adafruit motor shield http://www.adafruit.com/products/81.  He has the 9v line going to the finderscope.  As for powering your motor it all depends on its rated voltage.  What stepper board do you have?

Nate

Thanks for the reply Nate, so that little shield is clipped on directly to Arduino, then he's wired stright into that?

Here's the stepper motor and board i have - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130860581877?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Stuart

Your specific board will not be directly clipped to the Arduino like the shield i showed above.  If you see shield in the name it will clip to the Arduino otherwise it’s a standalone board like yours. Follow this link to show how to hook up the board.  http://www.utopiamechanicus.com/article/arduino-stepper-motor-setup-troubleshooting/.   Here is one showing you a little sample code http://www.botshop.co.za/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=156. Hope this gets you up and running.

Nate

Ah that's great thanks, he's mentioned which wires need to go where etc.

Do you know if I'd need to power the arduino and driver/motor seperately?

Was thinking this for the Arduino -

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/9v-Battery-to-2-1mm-Jack-Adapter-Power-Plug-Power-Adapter-for-Arduino-Boards-/00/s/NTAwWDUwMA==/z/vgoAAOxyzHxROxUi/$T2eC16F,!yUE9s6NEHHDBRO)UhfBqg~~60_35.JPG

Im not exactly sure what I'd need to power the motor/driver board with.

As all this is meant to be portable, I really need it all to be battery powered.

Just checking out this - http://dylanhacks.wordpress.com/category/weekly-updates/

Looks like he's connected a 9v to the motor board as well.

So I guess that would be the way to go? (9v on each board?)

Just seen this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/9v-BATTERY-SNAP-JST-MALE-PLUG-CONNECTOR-LEAD-125MM-PP3-RC-LED-/200775529343?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item2ebf27737

I think that would be the connector I'd need to power the motor board?

You will need a seperate power supply for the driver board.  Is the arduino going to be hooked up to a computer if so you can power it from there.  Or you can use a 9v battery like you stated.

Nate

Excellent, will be running it all on its own (no PC) so batteries are perfect. Will order the bits, hopefully I can this up and running.

Cheers for your help.

Will update once the bits are here (and hopefully assembled)

Just a little update.

The 9v battery connectors arrived last night and I hooked it all up and loaded on an sketch from the example folder and it runs!

Really pleased to see it working off the batteries.

I'm not sure if the little motor will be upto the job (of turning a drive bolt) but I do have a chunky motor at hand if needed.

The motor isn't turning smoothly with the example code I used (I think it's doing a 1/4 turn then stops then a 1/4 turn ect.)

Here is the Code -

/*

Stepper Motor Control - one revolution

This program drives a unipolar or bipolar stepper motor.

The motor is attached to digital pins 8 - 11 of the Arduino.

The motor should revolve one revolution in one direction, then

one revolution in the other direction. 

Created 11 Mar. 2007

Modified 30 Nov. 2009

by Tom Igoe

*/

#include <Stepper.h>

const int stepsPerRevolution = 200;  // change this to fit the number of steps per revolution

                                     // for your motor

// initialize the stepper library on pins 8 through 11:

Stepper myStepper(stepsPerRevolution, 8,9,10,11);           

void setup() {

  // set the speed at 60 rpm:

  myStepper.setSpeed(60);

  // initialize the serial port:

  Serial.begin(9600);

}

void loop() {

  // step one revolution  in one direction:

   Serial.println("clockwise");

  myStepper.step(stepsPerRevolution);

  delay(500);

   // step one revolution in the other direction:

  Serial.println("counterclockwise");

  myStepper.step(-stepsPerRevolution);

  delay(500);

}

I need to work out how to get it to turn at 1rpm.

Here's a snap shot of it all connected up -