Drive Sequence for Sanyo B00224 Stepper Motor

Question

Hi,

I was given a Sanyo #B00224 4 wire stepper motor, and for the life of me cannot determine the drive sequence, e.g. what order to power the coils and in which direction. As far as I can tell it is a bi polar stepper motor and should be drive-able with:

  Winding 1a 1100110011001100110011001
  Winding 1b 0011001100110011001100110
  Winding 2a 0110011001100110011001100
  Winding 2b 1001100110011001100110011

or:

  Winding 1a 1000100010001000100010001
  Winding 1b 0010001000100010001000100
  Winding 2a 0100010001000100010001000
  Winding 2b 0001000100010001000100010

Where 1 is power and 0 is ground.

I am really just looking for a datasheet on this motor or any information you might have.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Since it's such a cheap stepper motor, you probably won't be able to get a datasheet on it.

Most 4-wire stepper motors are bipolar, so that's a good assumption. I think that this would make the drive pattern the first one.

You may find that if you are using an Arduino, it just cannot provide the power that you need to make those motors turn. You may need to use some sort of external motor driver (H-bridge). I believe that the Arduino motor shield has this functionality built in. I would try a higher voltage than 5 for some immediate troubleshooting (9 or 12V). One of the online stores has this motor listed as a 12Vdc stepper, so that's probably the problem.

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/SMT-125/4-WIRE-STEPPER-MOTOR-W/GEARS/1.html

If you are still having trouble identifying the wires, you can ohm them out with a multimeter to determine the pairs. To find forward and reverse polarity, you should be able to swap the pairs until the motor correctly drives.