stepper motor wiring

Also:
Javascript page to find the center and phases for 5 and 6 wire unipolar stepper
motor s from your resistance measurements between the wires.
NEW !oman "lac#$s %inistep &. stepper controller #it Proceeds support
PICList.com
!odney 'c%atchy says: "...attach A+ and A- to 2 probes of the scope common to
ground, and spin the shaft by hand. On the screen they shoud come out !"#degee. out of
phase. If one phase is bac$%ards they %oud oo$ the same. Or if I mi&ed an A %ith a ',
(#degees out."
(a#e(his)u(mate*bincl+,A' at hotmail.com as#s:
-techref-io- stepper s.htm .ello i have the stepp motor number /"' ,-N &0152534
and another number 10%56702168&94 '/NE"EA 7):.4 %(:
and i want to #new which wire is for ; and 6 and remote<
and how many voltage can i put on at:::<
James Newton replies: )or most common *-%ire unipoar motors+
find common =centre tap= using an ohmmeter the resistance between the center
and any leg of that coil is &-1 that from leg to leg. 'easuring from one coil to the
other will show an open circuit4 since the 1 coils are not connected.
common goes to '; power
other > wires are the phases
With 66wire unipolar motors?
find the 1 common wires
connect these together
connect commons to '; power
other > wires are the phases
.oo# up the controller A;4 A64 ";4 and "6 terminals to the phase leads @guess at the
phasesA and try to step slowly.
/f the motor does not turn4 try swapping one A wire with one " wire4 you may have
connected the motor phasing wrong. /f you have the phasing wrong4 the motor will tend
to sit there and =wobble= or =buBB=.
/f the motor turns4 but in the wrong direction4 you only need to swap the two A wires
with each other.
;
Another way to figure out which wire is which for a motor without using a meter:
Cirst4 arrange the wires so that there is no way for any of them to be contacting another.
,ic# the first wire4 tape it and label it =A=
+pin the motor and notice
how hard it turns4 then
connect =A= to one of the
other wires4 and spin the
motor again.
/f you don$t feel any difference4 put that wire bac# and try
another
/f it feels harder to turn4 label that wire =A= *ust li#e the first wire4 put it bac#4 and
go on.
When you have all the =A= wires4 pic# up another unlabelled wire and label it ="= then
repeat the spin test until you have all the ="= wires.
!epeat with 74 :4 and so on until you have all the wires in groups.
8 wire motors: /f you only have two wires in each set and you have > sets @D wires totalA
you can *ust pic# one =A= wire4 one ="= wire4 one =7= wire and one =:= wire and hoo#
them all together. (his is now your common or '; wire and the other wires are the
phases. (his wiring causes the motor to behave as a unipolar motor. /t could also be
wired together in a bipolar configuration if that were desired. +ome "ipolar drivers
accept D leads4 but many ta#e 6 leads. /n that case4 one wire from each of two coils forms
one common and one wire from each of the other two coils forms another common which
results in the same wiring as a 6 wire motor.
6 wire motors: /f you have two sets of 0 wires @a 6 wire motorA you need to find the
center wire of each set. +tarting with the =A= set4 label the wires A&4 A14 and A0 in any
order. 7onnect A& to A1. Ceel how hard it is to spin. Now connect that same A& wire to
the A0 wire in the set.
/f it is easier to spin4 then the A1 wire is the center. !e6label A1 as =A7=
/f it is harder to spin4 then the A0 wire is the center. !e6label A0 as =A7=
/f it is the same4 then the A& wire is the center. !e6label A& as =A7=
!epeat this for the " set to find the " center wire ="7=
7onnect A7 and "7 together to form your common '; wire. (his modifies the motor to
become a unipolar stepper.
5 Wire motors: /f you have only one set of 5 wires then you have a standard unipolar
motor. 7onnecting ANE two of the five wires together causes the shaft to be a little
harder to turn. Eou might have noticed that one of the wires caused the motor to be
harder to turn than the others. (hat was the center wire. /f all the connections seemed
about the same4 the first wire you pic#ed was probably the center.
+teve "aldwin says: I ha,e
-uite a coection of steppers
and in most cases the
difference in detent tor-ue
%ith a coi shorted or not, is
-uite noticeabe. .o%e,er,
in one case, it %asn/t. 0hat
%as %ith an od *" foppy
dri,e motor. Probaby the
one most i$ey to be found
surpus.
)nce you #now which wire @sA is@areA the common4 you can find the order of the phases
with a stepper controller or a battery. /f you can connect it to a controller and provide
direction and step signals continuously4 the motor will either turn4 or sha#e. /f it sha#es4
swap one of the A wires with one of the " wires. /f it turns in the wrong direction4 swap
the two A wires. /f your wires are labeled A4 "4 74 : rather than A;4 A64 ";4 "64 that
should read: /f the motor steps bac# and forth4 swap " F 7. /f it runs bac#wards4 swap A
F ". 10han$s to 2te,e 'admin or 0LA 3icrosystems Ltd, Auc$and, 4e% 5eaand6
With a battery4 connect the common to one side4 (hen touch each wire to the other side
of the battery until you find one that spins cloc#wise. 7all this A. ,ic# another wire. /f it
goes cloc#wise too4 call it "4 and so on. /f it doesn$t4 re6apply A4 then pic# another wire.
Eventually you get A4"47 F :4 and it should spin cloc#wise when voltage is applied in
seGuence. !everse the seGuence4 and the motor should go bac#wards. 17d8than$s to
0ony 2mith6
"ill Hrause says:
/ use a sure6fire techniGue for identifying two6phase stepper motor wiring @5464D wireA
incuding the order of the phases that reGuires only a d6cell battery4 or a battery plus an
ohmmeter. (his wor#s because if you eIcite a portion of one winding @from center6tap to
one end @=phase=A of a phase winding on a 5 or 6 wire motor4 or one of the half6windings
on an D6wire motorA AN: eIcite eGually AN: /N (.E ),,)+/(E ,)%A!/(E the
other portion of that same winding @from center tap to the other end @=phase=A of the same
winding in a 5 or 6 wire motor4 or the other half6winding associated with the same phase
on an D6wire motorA the motor will turn freely because the net eIcitation to the stator is
Bero. (his situation will only occur when you are eIciting two half6windings of the
+A'E ,.A+E in this manner. (herefore using this method you can sort out center6taps4
associated half6windings4 winding polarities4 and phase association in the motor.
@/n case you$re wondering? when you short the two outside ends of a winding in a 5 or 6
wire motor and then apply eIcitation @the batteryA across the center6tap and the shorted
ends4 you are applying eIcitation to the half6windings in parallel4 ),,)+E:
,)%A!/(E. /f you draw a schematic of the hoo#up this becomes evident.A
.ere are eIamples for 6 and D wire motors @/$ll use the battery;ohmmeter method4
because any old ohmmeter will wor# and almost everybody has oneA
6 Wire motors: With the ohmmeter4 separate the wires into two groups of three @there$ll
be continuity among the three in a group4 but no continuity between the groupsA 1ed8 or
use the method abo,e to find the groups %ithout a meter6
As you are testing4 ma#e sure that none of the motor wires are shorted together4 other
than the ones specified in the test.
Arbitrarily label the wires in one set a4 b4 and c.
(wist together a and c and hold them to one side of the battery while holding b to the
other side. :oes the motor turn easily<
/f yes4 then b is the center and a and c are the ends.
/f not4 then try again:
(wist together leads b and c and connect them to one side of the battery and lead a to the
other. motor turn easily<
/f yes4 then a is the center and b and c are the ends.
/f not4 then try again:
(wist together leads a and b and connect them to one side of the battery and c to the
other. motor turn easily<
/f yes4 then c is the center and a and b are the ends.
/f no4 then thereJs an un#nown problem because those are the only combinations.
!epeat the labelling and test seGuence for the other set of wires.
8 Wire: (a#e your ohmmeter and find the pairs of leads that have continuity between
them and those four pairs are the two windings @each split in halfA. Just to ma#e sure you
donJt get snoo#ered4 measure between one wire of one winding and one wire of all the
other windings and ma#e sure you donJt have continuity there. %abel the four pairs of
leads: a4 b? c4d? e4f? g4h.1ed8 or use the method abo,e to find the groups %ithout a meter6
'a#e sure none of the motor wires are shorted together.
(urn the motor shaft and note how difficult @or easyA it is to turn.
.old wires a and b to the ends of the battery. Note how hard the shaft turns @it should turn
a lot harder than beforeA.
(wist lead a to c and lead b to d. .old leads to battery. :oes the shaft turn as easily as
when no power was applied<
/f yes4 then you have found the two halves of one of the windings and you have
them connected parallel6opposing.
Eou can now label the leads: aK&4 bK14dK04cK>.
/f no4 then try again:
(wist a to d and b to c. 7onnect battery. !otate easily<
/f yes4 then aK&4bK14cK04dK>.
/f no4 then try again:
(wist a to e and b to f. 7onnect battery. !otate easily<
/f yes4 then aK&4 bK14fK04eK>.
/f no4 then try again:
(wist a to f and b to e. 7onnect battery. !otate easily<
/f yes4 then aK&4bK14eK04fK>.
/f no4 then try again:
(wist a to g and b to h. 7onnect battery. !otate easily<
/f yes4 then aK&4bK14hK04gK>.
/f no4 then
(wist a to h and b to g. 7onnect battery. !otate easily<
/f yes4 then aK&4 bK14gK04hK>.
/f no4 then there has been an error4 because those are all the combinations.
At this point letJs say you have successfully identified leads &41404>. Now to identify
leads 5464L4D. ,ut leads &41404> out of the way4 but ma#e sure they are not shorted
together. !elabel the remaining leads as a4b4c4d.
!epeat the part of the testing above that involves a4b4c4d4 but use lead numbers 5464L4D for
your results instead of &41404>.
(hese tests are sure6fire and wor# every time. .ope this helps