3D Printing: How do you make sure you have the right voltage on the trimpots on an A4988 stepper driver? The Question: I've been looking into this, but:
1. I'm not certain how to configure my multimeter;
2. I don't know how to keep the voltage going, and;
3. I don't know how to keep the multimeter connected to the VMOT?
I'm told you're supposed to aim for about 1 A.
Solutions: Please watch the whole video to see all solutions, in order of how many people found them helpful
== This solution helped 6 people ==
Generally speaking voltage on stepstick output should be around 1V.
To imagine more or less what the current and what the voltage is, you can think
about it in the same way as about water.
The wire is more or less the same as the pipe. The voltage can be imagined as
(sort of) the height from which the water flows but the current can be imagined
as an amount of water which flows. To simplify things we assume that all our
pipes are closed into circuit and we have pump/battery and we have a motor
which is a reverted pump ;) and finally we have our stepstick which is a tap in
our model.
So no matter what the height (voltage) is we know that tap (stepstick) will
pass some amount (current) of water. We can drive it turning tap or turning a
potentiometer on the stepstick PCB.
So we got it. Principles (deadly simplified) are now clear. https://
learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/voltage-current-resistance-and-ohms-law/voltage
Getting back to your question. You have to know what is your stepstick
reference voltage. To make sure about that you have to check out resistor(s)
next to main black element on stepstick board. There should be R100 or R200
which are very common.
Now you should read data from motor label to know what is proper current for
your motor and calculate
voltage = motor_current * 8 * resistance_of_resistor
So now you know what is proper voltage for your motor and stepstick.
You measure voltage between potentiometer and GND (see on the picture)
If you set and connect everything and start printouts you should check motor
temperature. Use your finger. If you can touch motor and hold your finger not
more than half a second then probably the voltage set on potentiometer is too
high (motor can reach 80? Celsius and it's fine but more will shorten its life
span) and you should reduce it a bit (reduce by 5/100 V). If you notice that
motor growls or barks then your voltage is probably too low and you can
increase it by 5/100V.
Too high current will also reduce longevity of stepstick so cool them out with
fan.
Please be noticed.
Z-axis motors will usually be not too hot as they work less than X and Y but as
they are both connected to one stepstick so they need more current - set higher
voltage there.
Here is a to get basic knowledge about
stepsticks.
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