Sunday, September 2, 2012

Bipolar microstepping motor driver roundup

Bipolar stepper motors are easy to drive using a microcontroller, but using a separate driver chip can arguably be a simpler and a safer option. Using a dedicated chip is especially convenient when controlling multiple steppers or using micro stepping.

There are currently a huge selection of stepper motor driver chips on the market, a single vendor may carry over a dozen slightly different versions.

A list of interesting stepper motor drivers after the break.




In the table below we've selected a few different kinds with the following attributes:
  • Support for microstepping
  • Overheating protection
  • Over current protection
  • Common logic voltages (3.3 or 5V)
  • Simple to operate from a digital MCU
Part number Price for 1000 pcs (USD) Logic voltage Voltage Peak Current Interface Smallest step Speed profiles Safe position
ST Microelectronics L6474 $2.34 3.3V or 5V 8-45V 7.0A SPI+Step+Dir 1/16 No No
ST Microelectronics L6470 $3.80 3.3V or 5V 8-45V 7.0A  SPI or Step 1/128 Yes Yes
Allegro MicroSystems A4988 $1.46 3.0-5V 8-35V 2A Step+Dir 1/16 No No
Allegro MicroSystems A4979 $2.55 3.0-5V 7-50V 1.5A SPI or Step+Dir 1/16 No No
Texas Instruments DRV8825 $2.40 2.2-5.25V 8.2-45V 2.5A Step+Dir 1/32 No No
Texas Instruments DRV8823 $2.002.2-5.25V 8.2-45V 2.5A SPI compatible 1/8 No No
ON Semiconductor AMIS-30622 $3.42 5V 6.5-29V 0.8A I2C 1/16 Yes Yes

Note about A4979: Supports both SPI and Step+Dir interfaces. Over SPI stepping forward is done by repeatedly writing to the RUN register, one write is one step/microstep.

Note about DRV8823: Capable of controlling two(!) stepper motors. However, chip has no concept of Stepping per se, only PWM control of 4 H-bridges.

Have you found a good stepper motor driver? Please leave a comment and we'll add it to our list.


1 comment:

  1. Thank you. I added a link to your post at http://reprap.org/wiki/stepper_motor#Stepper_Driver_Chips .
    p.s: Another chip for your list: the Toshiba TB6564 -- see http://massmind.org/techref/io/stepper/THB6064/index.htm .

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