How To Wire It! Stepper Motors

Learn how to wire up stepper motors to your Arduino and see the basic code for how to control them.

Link to code & breadboard layout used in this video:

Link to stepper board:

Subscribe for more weekly videos!
Follow me on Twitter @itkindaworksinc

[apexboi]

jumping reset and sleep - already mentioned below but here is the explaination I found:
Next, the RESET pin sets the translator to a predefined Home state. This Home state or Home Microstep Position can be seen from these Figures from the A4988 Datasheet. So these are the initial positions from where the motor starts and they are different depending on the microstep resolution. If the input state to this pin is a logic low all the STEP inputs will be ignored. The Reset pin is a floating pin so if we don’t have intention of controlling it with in our program we need to connect it to the SLEEP pin in order to bring it high and enable the board.
Great info - much appreciated!

[RogerGarrett]

Thank goodness these videos remain available years after first posting. It's 2024 and this is the best video about wiring up the Syepper Motor. I'm using a newer version, TMC2209, but the info your provided seems to apply quite well to the newer version.

So, thank you!!!

[darioism]

To determine the stepper coils, you can also just touch two wires together and turn the stepper by hand. If you feel resistance, there's your coil.

[MGhaznfar]

Beautifully explained, I am instructor and like his way of explaining, love you

[dawn]

Awesome video! I’d love to see an updated one with instructions on how to use the new TMC chips with UART positional controls.

[elishmuel]

You, sir, are amazing. A million thanks to your great explanation

[lewiduressa]

Thank you so much!!! This helped me complete my Engineering project.

[robertleonard]

So many know things, but don't know how to explain. You did an excellent job!

[TheImagezone]

Once you determine the pairs of wires coming out of the motor, is it important to wire them to the board in a specific order? For example + - + -, or + - - +, I am getting a very jumpy stepper and I am not sure if I have polarity to all 4 wires correct. .

[nieliantaugan]

Thank u very much! Labya! Hope you help more students like me! 🙌♥️

[juanmf]

Nice! The piece of info I was looking for is:
Is the polarity of each coil important? My 1st stepper is not rotating and wondering if I’m opposing coil fields?

[bishoysameh]

Thank you so much every detail counted the only well explained video i found especially the coil wire part

[bilhelm]

Finally got my setup to work thanks to this!

[dablet]

any idea why other people uses a 100uf capacitor directly on the power supply's positive n negative terminal?

[danniolsen]

Nice tutorial!
The easiest way to find out which pairs of wires belongs to a coil, is to just hold the exposed ends together, if you then turn the wheel and feel resistance, then you got it

[rbondy]

Easy watch and easy to follow, cheers from a noob

[JimCzewski]

How did you expand the diameter of the shaft with that black object?

[Nine_]

The resistance measurement setting on the potentiometer? That’s an error I get it, but you left it in the video. This stuff can be confusing enough without you calling an ohm meter a potentiometer.

[milesturner]

Very good video, thanks. I'm new to this Arduino malarkey and I'm looking for a tutorial that explains how the speed of a stepper motor can be determined by the pressure on a load cell - imagine that a kitchen weighing scale makes a stepper motor pin fast with a three bags of sugar and slow with one bag. I'd use the common HX711 board. Thanks.

[philspaghet]

how do you know which wire plugs into which pin? I get separating coils but out of the two, how did you determine where they are plugged in?