Driving a Stepper Motor Using A4988

This project discusses about driving a stepper motor using A4988. I used an Arduino to operate A4988, I used this chip to run an NEMA 17 motor. It is very easy to use and works like charm.

1. Arduino Nano
2. A4988
3. Nema17
4. Perf board

First connect all the parts based on the circuit layout as shown in the image. Please make sure that polarity is correct and the current and voltage values are made, if you mess up the polarity the chip will heat up a lot and may burn your breadboard if you are using one.

Most of the stepper motor have he coils ends placed consecutively i.e in the order of 1A 1B 2A 2B if for some reason you cant determine the coil sets then simply connect a LED to any two of the 4 motor pins, and turn the axel with your hand, if the LED turns then the 2 pins are of a coil either 1A 1B or 2A 2B.

Also connect the motor pins and then connect the power supply(VMOT and GND) pins to the A4988, unlike most of the motors which use power from Arduino, NEMA stepper motor uses separate power supply. Make sure of the polarity is correct.

Use the link for better application:

https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/how-to-control-stepper-motor-with-a4988-driver-and-arduino/

Connect the DIR pin to pin 2 of Arduino and STEP pin to pin 3. Set both pin 2 & 3 as OUTPUT.

Most of the code is self explanatory and I have explained most of it in comments. If the DIR is HIGH it rotates clockwise and if the DIR is LOW anti-clockwise. To increase/decrease the speed change the delay values accordingly. If you want to change the angle that the axel rotates change the stepsPerRevolution value > 200 for 360 degrees.

I finally uploaded the code and then soldered all the components on to a perf board. I also used a 2.1×5.5mm DC Power Jack Socket to the power supply pins. This particular setup works universally for all stepper motors as you can change the code and use different voltages based on requirement.