1 input stepper motor driver/controller? does it exist?

[supak111]

Is there such a thing as just 1 wire input drive that car driver a stepper motor with 2 or 4 coils in it?

I have a single wire that pulses on/off/on/off which I need to use to drive the stepper motor

Most step motor drivers have 4 inputs and 4 outputs to drive 4 coils, well I don't have 4 inputs, I only have 1 that will somehow need to drive 2 or 4 coils.

Is there is such a driver, what is it called?

 

[(*steve*)]

Well, with a single input, you're only going to be able to step in one direction.

That means it's the clock input. You need a driver with clock and direction inputs, and simply tie the direction input to a fixed value.

This might be similar to what you're after.

 

[supak111]

Is there a device that can take the "1 pulsed input" and have 4 outputs, so that on each input pulse it sends the power:

to output 1,
next pulse output 2,
next pulse output 3
and next to output 4,
Then repeat

or is that what you mean by clock output? I don't know exactly how those drivers work.

 

[(*steve*)]

Yes, a stepper motor controller provides the 4 (or more) outputs to connect to the stepper motor and uses some combination of simpler signals to tell it when and in what direction to step the motor.

The controller I pointed you to is an example of one of those.

The input that tells it to make a step is the clock input. (it can be called other things too)

 

[supak111]

Oh OK cool then that should do exactly what I need, thanks

 

[(*steve*)]

Look around for stepper motor controllers. There may be more that suit your needs and may be cheaper, or more easily incorporated in whatever you want to do.

 

[supak111]

Yea I'm looking for some cheap ones now that have the "clock" input, most of the cheap $2-5 china ones don't seem to have it, they only have the 4 individual inputs.

 

[(*steve*)]

If all you want is to convert a single pulse to sequential pulses on 4 pins, take a look at a 4017. This can produce pulses on up to 10 different lines, but for your use it would have its 5th output directed to its reset input.

This chip cannot drive a stepper motor directly, but it might be able to drive one of the cheap Chinese ones you've found.

 

[supak111]

I technically only need 1 input turned into 2 sequential pin outputs. And wow 4017 is exactly what I want. Simple and cheap.

What are these chips called that do sequential outputs? And are there other ones? Any idea what V and mA they can handle through them?

 

[(*steve*)]

The 4017 can handle a 15V Vcc and supply about 5mA

They're a fairly specialised decoder. I'm not familiar with anything else quite like them.

 

[supak111]

Yea after doing research I figure out they are called "decade counters", knowing about these would have saved me hours of research.

I hope 5mA is enough to drive L298N or an ULN2003 which is what most of these cheap eBay drivers use.

 

[(*steve*)]

Well... no.

There are many other decade counters that do not offer the 10 decoded outputs.

The 4017 is a "decade counter with 10 decoded outputs" so it is both a decade counter and a decoder -- and a special sort of decoder.

The 4017 is *probably* capable of driving the cheap Chinese stepper motor drivers.

They're generally based on the L297. As you can see from the linked datasheet, they only require 0.1mA max to drive the inputs, so the 4017 should do the trick nicely.

 

[supak111]

Ok here is my question. I found some L297 that supposedly can output 600mA on each channel. My motor wont use more then 400mA. L297 has a clock input on it so I can then just use the L297 for everything?

 

[(*steve*)]

It appears that you can. You'd set the enable pin appropriately, and also the direction and half/full step, and then clock away.

You'd probably want the combination of L297 and L298, since the 297 doesn't have the output drive you mention.

I made a mistake with my posting above. I meant L298, but I was looking at another device (L297) at the time. Doh!

The input requirements are the same (100uA max). A 4017, if it does all you require, will be a lot more efficient (lower power as well as lower price) than an L297

 

[supak111]

yea for sure 4017 are much cheaper, but I still have to then buy a cheap L298 driver.

I don't now quite understand why not just use an L297 alone?

L297 comes out to be cheaper & easier to connect then buying both 4017+ L298 driver

 

[(*steve*)]

As far as I can see the L297 has signal rather than power outputs. Where do you see one with capability to drive 600mA.

Forgive me if it's in the datasheet. I couldn't find it, but I'm really under the weather today as evidenced by the mistakes I've made in this thread alone!

 

[supak111]

So it comes down to if the L297 can really output 600mA? Who knows maybe those L297 with 600mA I found was a mistake. I'll try to find a datasheet on them.

 

[(*steve*)]

Got a link to them?

 

[supak111]

it was ebay item, but there are so many now I can't even find the listing