lesthegrngo Posted May 29, 2019 Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) Guys, I am struggling badly with stepper motors, drivers and arduino nanos. I have the X27-168 stepper motors, I am using Easydriver stepper motor controllers, and arduino nanos to control the lot. I rigged up two identical setups, one motor, one stepper board, one nano, connected by USB connections. The wiring is the same between them, the components the same, they are connected to the same USB hub, and the nanos are loaded with exactly the same sketch, the one on Craig's site. They are connected to COM 9 and 11, and when you start DCS, they move in different ways! Even when you unplug and replug the USB hub in, effectively recyling the power, the movement between the two stepper motors are nothing more than vaguely similar! They don't move full deflection like the sketches say, they move by different amounts, at different times, and are as jerky as hell. It took me a while to get them working at all. On top of that the individual motors don't seem to do the same thing twice I can't understand why two identical setups are so different in action, it isn't logical. They are both being fed the same data, are on the same power supply, PC.... I am utterly baffled. Help me before I go mad Cheers Les Edited May 30, 2019 by lesthegrngo
lesthegrngo Posted May 29, 2019 Author Posted May 29, 2019 It gets weirder - I have 5 easydriver boards, 10 Nanos and 20 X27's, I added a third set and that behaves differently to the other two, although slightly more similar to one than the other.... I'm giving up for tonight, but tomorrow I will wire up the remaining two EasyDriver boards with steppers and nanos, and see how many permutations we can get *sigh* Les
lesthegrngo Posted May 30, 2019 Author Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) It looks like I may have stumbled across the answer. This morning's work was to double check the wiring, and swap parts to ensure that there were no duff units confusing the issue. As I was doing so, after reconnection the motors all vibrated, but failed to move. It seemed like the motors were not receiving enough power, so I got my voltmeter out and checked the voltage across the 9V supply I was using.... it was just over 5V. Also, as I was measuring it, either the act of connecting the voltmeter or an inadvertent momentary short was obviously the last straw and it gave up completely. I assumed that the 9V power supply was giving exactly that and never gave it a second thought. It never occurred to me to double check it before, you live and learn. As I said, it may not be the root cause, as I don't have a suitable DC power supply to test it with yet, that's on today's shopping list. My worry is that the low voltage has affected the EasyDriver boards, as it was them that were being fed by the power supply. I know the Arduinos are ok, they behaved fine connected to the PC, and I imagine the stepper motors will be ok with too low a voltage. But the EasyDriver boards are a worry. So while I am waiting for this evening and another go with a new 12V DC power supply, I would like to ask those with experience whether the birazze, erratic behaviour could be attributed to the failing power supply, as electronic device characteristics are not my forte Cheers Les Edited May 30, 2019 by lesthegrngo
Hansolo Posted May 30, 2019 Posted May 30, 2019 Hi Les I would suggest you go to this tutorial https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/easy-driver-hook-up-guide/all It has a lot of info on the Easystepper, code and other hint. Forget for a second about DCS-BIOS and just focus on getting the basic's down for stepper operation Cheers Hans 132nd Virtual Wing homepage & 132nd Virtual Wing YouTube channel My DCS-BIOS sketches & Cockpit Album
lesthegrngo Posted May 30, 2019 Author Posted May 30, 2019 Thanks Hans, will take a look, if nothing else the basics will allow me to assess whether the boards are damaged or not. I also have to stop assuming that things like power supplies are doing what they are supposed to Cheers
lesthegrngo Posted May 30, 2019 Author Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) *EDIT* - Moderators/ Admin, I tried to put SOLVED in the title to help people, it only seems to appear inside the thread, can you change the title for me? Guys, it was indeed a duff power supply. I have five gauges all set up identically now, and with a new 12V power supply they all behave like choreographed little soldiers. An object lesson for me here, in that I took for granted that basic equipment would work in a certain manner. Hopefully this post will help someone troubleshoot or better still avoid a similar frustrating issue. Thanks again to everyone who looked in or chipped in on any of my posts, without the help I'm sure I would still be floundering with the basics Cheers Les Edited May 30, 2019 by lesthegrngo Want to add RESOLVED to title
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