How to Control a Stepper Motor?

Brushless DC motors are called stepper motors. These brushless motors have a longer lifespan than brushed motors. They operate accurately in position and speed control without requiring feedback.

Things to Know When Controlling a Stepper Motor

There are some important points to know about stepper motor control. We can share these with you as follows:

When controlling a stepper motor, you need to know the amount the stepper motor will rotate for each full step. If the step resolution is not marked on the stepper motor, it should be turned by hand and the number of steps counted.

After learning the number of steps, it is divided by 360° to find the step angle.

Stepper motors have 4 coils and 5 terminals: 4 separate terminals and 1 common terminal. An ohmmeter measurement is performed to find the common terminal. A fixed resistor is placed between the common terminal and the other terminals, and the common terminal is identified.

The stepper motor does not operate directly from the microcontroller output. The outputs must be amplified. This requires a transistor, a dedicated stepper motor driver, or a FET integrated circuit.

Some stepper motors have 6 terminals. In these stepper motors, 2 terminals are connected together and used as 5 outputs.

For more information about stepper motors, you can read our blog post titled “What is a Stepper Motor? What are its Types? And How Does it Work?”

Performing Stepper Motor Control

Step motoru kontrol ederken, çalışma voltajı ortak terminale uygulanır. Kalan 4 terminal, transistör veya FET gibi bir anahtarlama elemanı ile entegre edilmiştir. Bu 4 bağlantı doğru şekilde yapılırsa motor dönecektir. Ancak, yanlış bağlanırsa motor titreyecektir. Böyle bir durumda, doğru sonuç elde edilene kadar 4 terminal bağlantısı değiştirilir ve test edilir.

During stepper motor control, the frequency at which current pulses are delivered increases the speed of the stepper motor. With each current pulse, the stepper motor moves at a specific angle proportional to the motor frequency value and motor structure. Current pulses must be sent to the stepper motor in a specific sequence. If the previous pulse is not applied before the next pulse is sent, the stepper motor will brake.

To learn about step skipping issues in stepper motors, you can read our blog post titled “Information on Encoder-Equipped Stepper Motors Against Step Skipping Issues.”

To browse stepper motor options, you can click on the relevant link or contact us for detailed information.