28BYJ-48 Stepper Motor and ULN2003 Driver Intro

The sample code from my Arduino video is here:

This video gives a detailed introduction to the common 28BYJ-48 stepper motor, and the ULN2003 Darlington Array driver board. You can use the info from this video to drive the stepper motor with most any microcontroller.

Stay tuned for follow up videos on driving the motor with the Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and possibly others. Meanwhile here are some other great resources:

Graham Wideman's excellent "Motors- 28BYJ-48 Stepper motor notes":

Gavin MacDonald's "Stepper Motor Control with the Raspberry Pi" YouTube Video:

GreatScott!'s "Electronic Basics #24: Stepper Motors and how to use them" YouTube Video:

Norbert Heinz's "Working principles of several stepper motors (bipolar, unipolar, reluctance and can-stack)" YouTube video:

Modest Maker has an awesome tutorial on driving these with an Arduino:

The ArduinoInfo.Info Wiki has some great notes and examples of using these motors with an Arduino, check them out here:

Last Minute Engineer's Blog Post on the 28BYJ-48:

[bolibardo]

This one video is the Bible of Stepper Motor. No other video can explain better. The animation is superb. On any question on Stepper Motor, I shall come back to this video. Thanks.

[haroldadelman]

Wow! Thanks, you saved me the trouble of taking it apart! Seriously, I am a novice Arduino user, and I love the professionalism of your videos. I have a lot to learn, and I thank you for being a good hands-on teacher!

[MarkMichalowski]

Clearly and straightforwardly explained, great visuals, no irritating, pointless background music - excellent work! Thanks Bret! :)

[garybooting_co_uk]

This has to be by far the most comprehensive explanation of stepper motor driving that I have seen. Well presented and a wealth of information, thank you for taking the time to present this tutorial. I wish every tutorial was presented in such a detailed, yet simple, method.

[marcbaptista]

Can I say this HAS to be one of the most comprehensive and detailed instruction I've come across. I'm an active animator/filmmaker (65 yrs old!) and I'm getting back into creating my own art projects involving Arduino/steppers. Your clip was absolutely wonderful, and has given me the necessary insight and momentum to get this going. 30 years ago I had a multi-axis stepper-motor driven animation rostrum. It was massive & ludicrously expensive then. Times and the costs have changed the game. I'm excited, and you've given me the fillip to work with steppers again! Thank you. I WILL view your subsequent video on how to drive the motors via Arduino. Thanks again.

[Tocsin-Bang]

Having been in education for about 40 years, I have to say that this is one of the best technical Youtube presentations I've ever seen! Superb.

[edsoncapitani]

Hi Bret, After seeing your video I felt compelled to say: Thank you mate!  for such a detailed explanation. Thank you for taking the time to do this. The animations were fantastic help.

[TheJuliusCo]

Amazing, most videos just focus on the operation of the Arduino's Sketch and the proper code, but fully understanding a project like this is equally valuable, I'm a physicist trying to get into electronics stuff, and let me tell you've done it pretty good in applying electromagnetic concept. here, thanks.

[rayguyon]

Probably the clearest and most comprehensive tutorial I have ever seen. In a word, superb. Thank you.

[visionstills]

Hi Bret, I had to watch this video twice for it to sink in and so glad I did.
I'm getting incredible torque from this little stepper (same hardware setup as you show) in full step mode.
You have a way of explaining complex subjects that makes it simple to understand. Thank you.

My highest YouTube compliment, Subscribed.

[jonathanramirez]

This is just what I needed! This is my first build and I can't tell how helpful this video was.

[BernhardHofmann]

I was confused as to why it took so many steps to get a rotation on the output shaft when I fiddled about with this from my MSP430. Your video explains it perfectly, thank you.

[SolCunningham]

Aside from the operating system that I run, this is one of the greatest things MS has done! Thanks Brett.

[malcolmhodgson]

Such a clear explanation. Thank you for this. I now understand the half step mode which explains why my original program drove the thing at twice the rate (wave) I was expecting from the spec. A quick tweak of the code and all is now perfect. Great job great video.

[ChinqMiau]

The quality of instruction and detail is astonishing. Thank you for making this a sharing this video!

[tracywallace]

Outstanding presentation.  I have been programming for over two decades and am finally starting to get into physical computing.  This was perfect.  I have motors spinning! Thanks.

[fijisalt]

Bloody excellent explanation. I had to watch a few times to understand why we have to know the stepper motor mechanism thoroughly. Thank you 🙏

[AlanMedina]

I love you Bret, This video is really helpful for my assembly class.

We are working on basic stepper control using 8051.

And this video really helps to get a deeper intuition of motor operation.

This video Rocks.

[lindaxin]

amazing tutorials. seriously you have saved my life. instructions are SO clear and diagrams are REALLY helpful. THANKYOU!!

[structure]

I bought this cheap little motor/board combo on Amazon and thought, "well, let's see if there's any good documentation out there." I watched this video and fell out of my chair! I know how long it takes to put something like this together. Thank you very much for doing it!