Control large stepper motors

Google is your friend (or should be before coming here). Check out the search results on this page. Come back here after you have made your selection or design approach. I am sure you will have some intelligent questions.

BTW, a 4V 4.4 A stepper motor is not a particularly large motor. Do you have a specific manufacturer and model number motor in mind? Torque and maximum speed requirements? Full-step, half-step, micro-step requirements? Stepping angle? Geared or direct drive?

 

It's rare that I will disagree with Hop but IMHO "Electronics Point" should be the first hit that Google returns!

Chris

 

Wow, Chris! What a wunnerful idea! Totally agree, just not sure how to make that happen.

Not saying Google doesn't return links to Electronics Point, but it's hit-or-miss unless you have a well-crafted search string AND the topic has appeared here in the forum. For example, for the link I provided above, there is no link to Electronics Point on any of the 50 pages I scrolled through. Lots of "hits" on other "hobby" sites though, including at least three links to Colin's website and several to the Instructables website. But mostly that search string returns what the OP asked for: high current stepper motor pwm controller(s).

Clearly the OP has done some research with search engines, since two results were in the original post, but apparently neither of these satisfies their requirements. Hence my suggestion to Google (some more) to narrow down the field. If we can get specific questions related to specific hardware and performance criteria it is much easier, and much quicker, to offer guidance and advice. But 4 V at 3.4 A is not much to go on. A model number, manufacturer, and intended use would give us a better starting point for discussion. Also, the OP didn't say what they wanted to DO. It's like pulling hen's teeth to get that little factotum from most newbie posters.

I am not sure how Google orders search results, except some are placed higher on the list than others if you pay Google a fee to do that. I am sure Ian is loathe to promote "hits" on EP by even considering paying for a "promoted" search-results position... EP seems to be well-supported by paid advertising if a "guest" chooses not to become a member. Somehow the newbies manage to find their way here, Google or not. I just wish they could be more specific in stating what they are trying to DO.

A few years ago I did some extensive on-line research to find the latest and greatest technology for driving largeish Superior Electric stepper motors. These motors were originally driving a Variac through a gear-train and used the mains plus a phase-shift capacitor to drive the windings. Eventually I found an H-bridge integrated circuit that would drive IGBT power transistors as well as power MOSFETs using low-valued current-sensing resistors for feedback, integrated charge-pump for the high-side gate control, kilohertz PWM modulation, and microstepping capability. IIRC, you just feed it pulses and tell it how much current and the chip does the rest. Seems to be ideal for my purpose (rotating a large loop antenna and its tuning capacitor), so I ordered some Cree MOSFETs and Cree Schottky diodes from Digi-Key. Haven't ordered the controller chip yet, but when I am ready to begin circuit design that is the way I will go, choosing the latest variation.

Hop