I’m building an add-on project that requires a stepper motor (NEMA 17 - 12V - 2A/Phase - 4 Wires)
I’ve gotten the BigEasyDriver to work beautifully.
I have a huge fear of EMF when I add the stepper project into my current setup. Does the BigEasyDriver have any form of flyback protection built in?
Currently I have a separate PSU connected to the power side of the BigEasyDriver from the rest of the arduinos. However, I do realize that both groups of the PSU and the arduino are hooked up to the BigEasyDriver which might connect both grounds together.
Would that cause the arduinos to be more susceptible to flyback?
I’ve searched online in many places regarding flyback protection for Stepper Motors, but found nothing conclusive. I just want to know what’s the best option available to protect my circuits.
Thank you everyone!
I have a huge fear of EMF when I add the stepper project into my current setup. Does the BigEasyDriver have any form of flyback protection built in?
The board itself doesn’t but from what I’m seeing in the A4988 data sheet, it looks like the driver chip itself has protection built in. We’ve never had a customer report a EMF induced failure so I’m pretty confident you should be just fine. You obviously don’t want to allow your steppers to move around a lot while un-powered though.
Currently I have a separate PSU connected to the power side of the BigEasyDriver from the rest of the arduinos. However, I do realize that both groups of the PSU and the arduino are hooked up to the BigEasyDriver which might connect both grounds together.
I’m not exactly sure what you’re saying here but the BED should get it’s power from the M+ and GND pins that are beside the motor wire pins. On the other side of the board, you need ground connected to your system as well as whatever signal pins you’re using. Leave VCC disconnected as that’s an output pin not an input. You DO want both grounds connected together and that will happen through the board and it’s not anything that’s going to cause issues.