This will be a guide to connect the most common stepper motors for 3D printers. They usually mount NEMA17 motor with 4 wires.
Quick version.
If the motor comes with coloured wires, the typical colours are Red/Blue/Green/Black
Issues: It is not guaranteed to be like this! Who knows where the motors come from, how are they wired, etc. I’ve known many people who were not able to make them work and at the end, they realized the problem was in the wiring.
Longer version
The most common drivers which the 3D printers and home machines use are bipolar. The most known drivers for bipolar hybrid stepper motors are pololus a4988 and DRV8825.
The motor will have 4 wires. 2 per coil, therefore what we have to figure out is which ones are the coils.
Figure out the coils
If we are going to wire a stepper motor, we have to figure out which wires belong to which coil.
We can name them coil A and coil B, or coil 1 and coil 2.
Luckily, the drivers designers decided to use both systems (/ironic)
If you read the driver’s label, the DRV8825 specifies A2 A1 B1 B2 and the A4988 specifies 1B 1A 2A 2B.
Just read it several times, and make sure you understand it is exactly the same.
If you have a multimeter
Very simple. Test the resistance between two wires. If there is a bit of resistance (less than 150ohm), then you have found a coil!.
If the resistance is infinite (0L), it means that the cables do not touch and then they are from different coils.
If you don’t own a multimeter, you can use a more entertaining way of finding out using LEDs with legs.
Connect one wire to one leg and the other wire to another leg.
Then you rotate the shaft generating current.
If the LED turns on, then you have found the coil!
It is quite important to rotate the motor in one direction and also in the other one. The LED will only turn on in one direction (when you generate current from the anode to the cathode). If it doesn’t turn on in any direction, then those wires belong to different coils.
Conclusions
My God! If you are here is because you are really worried about which stepper motor you need for your project.
The stepper motors are a fundamental part of electronics. It is the main component of many projects and it is quite important to know them well.
I hope this article helped you to get into your own conclusions.
https://www.hackster.io/jeanluc-abeil
https://www.smore.com/a456w-why-do-you-use-a-stepper-motor
Quick version.
If the motor comes with coloured wires, the typical colours are Red/Blue/Green/Black
Issues: It is not guaranteed to be like this! Who knows where the motors come from, how are they wired, etc. I’ve known many people who were not able to make them work and at the end, they realized the problem was in the wiring.
Longer version
The most common drivers which the 3D printers and home machines use are bipolar. The most known drivers for bipolar hybrid stepper motors are pololus a4988 and DRV8825.
The motor will have 4 wires. 2 per coil, therefore what we have to figure out is which ones are the coils.
Figure out the coils
If we are going to wire a stepper motor, we have to figure out which wires belong to which coil.
We can name them coil A and coil B, or coil 1 and coil 2.
Luckily, the drivers designers decided to use both systems (/ironic)
If you read the driver’s label, the DRV8825 specifies A2 A1 B1 B2 and the A4988 specifies 1B 1A 2A 2B.
Just read it several times, and make sure you understand it is exactly the same.
If you have a multimeter
Very simple. Test the resistance between two wires. If there is a bit of resistance (less than 150ohm), then you have found a coil!.
If the resistance is infinite (0L), it means that the cables do not touch and then they are from different coils.
If you don’t own a multimeter, you can use a more entertaining way of finding out using LEDs with legs.
Connect one wire to one leg and the other wire to another leg.
Then you rotate the shaft generating current.
If the LED turns on, then you have found the coil!
It is quite important to rotate the motor in one direction and also in the other one. The LED will only turn on in one direction (when you generate current from the anode to the cathode). If it doesn’t turn on in any direction, then those wires belong to different coils.
Conclusions
My God! If you are here is because you are really worried about which stepper motor you need for your project.
The stepper motors are a fundamental part of electronics. It is the main component of many projects and it is quite important to know them well.
I hope this article helped you to get into your own conclusions.
https://www.hackster.io/jeanluc-abeil
https://www.smore.com/a456w-why-do-you-use-a-stepper-motor
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