Stepper motor stops occasionally

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

Hi,

I bought stepper motor (Product Code : RB-Soy-03) and driver (Product Code : RB-Cyt-185) from Robotshop and tried to run this motor for my project.

The motor starts to free run correctly at current of 70mA. However, the stepper motor stops randomly after running for a while (~mins or so), the current jumps to 300mA without extra load applied. I have to hit “Reset” button on Cytron board to get motor back to run again.

Is this something wrong with it? What should I check to fix it?

Thanks!

Regards,
Kevin

2

Hi,

Are you using an external microcontroller to control the Cytron 6-20V, 1A Unipolar / Bipolar Stepper Motor Controller or are you using the test button on the driver ?
In case you are using a microcontroller, please post a picture showing your wiring and the code you are using to control the stepper.

3

[font=Arial]Hi,

Thank you for getting back to me!

Tried onboard “Test” button, it works just fine.

When I try to run motor with Arduino, then the motor randomly stalls with only 2 LEDs ON (as image in attachment). While this happens, I can see from oscilloscope that the signal on EN, PULSE, DIRECTION are all correct.

The code is like this:

#define PULSE 8
#define DIRECTION 9
#define EN 10

int steps = 0;
int delayMicroSecond = 1000;
String inString = “”; // string to hold input

void setup()
{
pinMode(PULSE, OUTPUT);
pinMode(DIRECTION, OUTPUT);
pinMode(EN, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(EN, HIGH); //set EN pin on motor driver
digitalWrite(DIRECTION, LOW); //set DIRECTION pin on motor driver
}

void loop()
{
digitalWrite(PULSE, HIGH); //set pulse pin on motor driver
delayMicroseconds(delayMicroSecond);
digitalWrite(PULSE, LOW); //clear pulse pin on motor driver
delayMicroseconds(delayMicroSecond);
}

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<[/font][font=Arial][font=Arial]The wiring diagram as attached.

Could you please take a look at this and let me know the problem?

Thanks!

PS:

I[/font][/font][font=Arial][font=Arial][font=Arial][font=Arial]plugged in[/font][/font]a previous model driver (SD02B) and it works fine with the exact same code. It doesn’t randomly stop as I experienced with SD02C driver, only thing is that the current is a bit higher at around 1A with SD02B.

Is this telling the SD02C needs extra setup to work? Specifically, do you see any concern in [/font][/font][font=Arial][font=Arial]stepper motor (RB-Soy-03: Sy42sth38-0406A) working with SD02C?

Thanks![/font][/font]

IMG_20171220_stepper.jpg
IMG_20171220_stepper.jpg2560×1920 826 KB

4

What is the power source ratings (voltage and current) you are using to power the Cytron driver ? Did you make sure that it is providing enough current for the stepper ?
Also, in your code you have a pulse frequency of 1KHz which should be fine as per the Cytron, the controller should be able to detect up yo 1KHz pulses on the PULSE pin.
However, the maximum stepping frequency at which the stepper controller can operate also depends on the stepper’s performances.
The stepper RB-Soy-03 might not be able to handle this frequency so it jitters after a while. Try a pulse frequency of 4KHz for example by changing delayMicroSecond = 1000 to 250.

1 Like
5

Brilliant! Worked like a charm- I was having similar troubles on an Arduino+motor shield. This fixed it!

Kudos!

2 Likes