I am running two stepping motors with an application. First one motor runs, then the second. I am using the PRODRIVER_MODE_SERIAL. When I run the application the first motor always runs but the second motor does not run all the time. I added a Serial.ptintln to the motor sequence and it shows that the stepSerial for the second motor is firing.
What could be the issue here? As I said this happens intermittently.
Are the motors the same wattage? Are they wired the same? What is your power supply?
The motor that runs without issue is a STEPPERONLINE Nema 14 Stepper Motor 0.9deg(400 Steps/rev) 0.4A 11Ncm/15.6oz.in Bipolar 4-Wires.
The one that will run intermittently is a Sparkfun ROB-09238.
They are wired as follows:
ARDUINO → PRODRIVERs (STEPPERONLINE)
D8 → STBY PRODRIVER1 and PRODRIVER2
D7 → EN PRODRIVER1 and PRODRIVER2
D6 → MODE0 PRODRIVER1 and PRODRIVER2
D5 → MODE1 PRODRIVER1 only (LATCH PIN 1)
D4 → MODE2 PRODRIVER1 and PRODRIVER2
D3 → MODE3 PRODRIVER1 and PRODRIVER2
D2 → ERR PRODRIVER1 and PRODRIVER2
ARDUINO → PRODRIVER2 (ROB 09238
D9 → MODE1 PRODRIVER2 only (LATCH PIN 2)
The power supply is a 12VDC 30 Amp
I have another STEPPERONLINE Motor, would you advise replacing the ROB with it so the motors are the same?
Thanks
Greg
Yes, that’d be the next step, especially if powering both motors from the single power source…and see if they behave similarly or not
Actually I just found the issue. My application was broken into various functions and the second motor didn’t seem to like that. I rewrote the application so that the motor sequence was all in one function and the issue disappeared.
Thanks for your help.
Greg
Well thought I had it solved, but no. Both motors are on the same power source but only 1 motor runs at a time. The only thing I can think of trying is to run the second motor on custom pins and not in serial mode.
Greg
Well it looks as though I have not found the solution. Have tried about everything except powering the motors from separate power sources. Though, with a 30amp supply the same power source should not make a difference. What I may have to do is buy two more stepper boards and another motor just to bench test everything.
If only one setup is hooked up at a time it works correctly, right?
Did some further experiments. I am using 4 12vdc linear actuators for my car clamps. they are wired to a DPDT 5VDC relay. If I comment out the calls to the clamps everything works fine every time. With the calls in the second motor is erratic. Figured it might be a power problem and connected the actuators to a separate supply. No go, still erratic. Going to disable the DPDT relay next by disconnecting the pins but leave the 12VDC supply on to see if it is the relay.