Get Stepper Motor Positions From SD Card

In this tutorial we are going to read stepper motor positions from the SD card where we saved a text file with the amount of steps. You can set both directions steps.

Watch the Video!

• Arduino UNO (Or any other Arduino)
• SD card module
• SD card to store a file
• Stepper motor 28byj-48 & stepper motor driver board
• Jumper wires
• Breadboard
• Visuino program: Download Visuino

Thank you PCBWay for supporting this tutorial and helping users learn more about electronics.

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• Connect SD card Module pin GND to Arduino pin GND
• Connect SD card Module pin VCC to Arduino pin 5V
• Connect SD card Module pin SCK to Arduino digital pin 13
• Connect SD card Module pin MISO to Arduino digital pin 12
• Connect SD card Module pin MOSI to Arduino digital pin 11
• Connect SD card Module pin CS to Arduino digital pin 10
• Connect Stepper Motor to Stepper Motor Driver
• Connect Arduino pin [5V] to Driver Board pin [VCC]
• Connect Arduino pin [GND] to Driver Board pin [GND]
• Connect Arduino digital pin [2] to Driver Board pin [IN1]
• Connect Arduino digital pin [3] to Driver Board pin [IN2]
• Connect Arduino digital pin [4] to Driver Board pin [IN3]
• Connect Arduino digital pin [5] to Driver Board pin [IN4]

In a Notepad type the amount of steps in each line, if you want to change the direction just add the minus (-) in front of the number and save it to the SD Card in file "STEPPER.TXT"

The Visuino: https://www.visuino.eu needs to be installed. Start Visuino as shown in the first picture Click on the "Tools" button on the Arduino component (Picture 1) in Visuino When the dialog appears, select "Arduino UNO" as shown on Picture 2

• Add "Pulse Generator" component
• Add "Counter" component
• Add "Micro SD Card Module" component
• Add "Text Multi Source" component
• Add "Replace Text" component
• Add "Text To Integer" component
• Add "Integer Multi Source" component
• Add "Contains Text" component
• Add "Up/Down Counter" component
• Add "4 Wire Stepper Motor" component
• Add "Compare Integer Value" component
• Add "Unsigned To Digital" component

• Select "PulseGenerator1" and in the properties window set "Frequency" to 500
• If you want to set Stepper motor to run faster or slower then adjust the Frequency of the "PulseGenerator1"

• Double click on the "SDCard1" and in the "Elements" window drag "File" to the left side and in the properties window set "Path Name" to STEPPER.TXT
• Select "Elements" and click on the 3 dots button and in the new "Elements" window:
• Drag "Read Seek" to the left side and in the properties window select "Position" and click on the pin icon and select "Cardinal SinkPin"
• Drag "Read Text Line" to the left
• Close both "Elements" windows

• Select "ReplaceText1" and in the properties window set "From Value" to -
• Select "ContainsText1" and in the properties window set "Text" to -
• Select "UpDownCounter1" and in the properties window select "Initial Value" to and click on the pin icon and select "Integer SinkPin"
• Select "UpDownCounter1" and in the properties window set "Min" > "Roll Over" to False and "Min" > "Value" to 0
• Select "UnsignedToDigital1" and in the properties window set "Output pins" to 1
• Select "Stepper1" and in the properties select "Reversed" and click on the Pin Icon and select "Boolean SinkPin"

• Connect "SDCard1" pin [SPI] to "Arduino" pin [SPI]
• Connect "SDCard1" pin [Chip Select] to "Arduino" Digital pin [10]
• Connect "Counter1" pin [Out] to "SDCard1" > "Read Seek1" pin [Position]
• Connect "Counter1" pin [Out] to "SDCard1" > "Read Text Line1" pin [Clock]
• Connect "SDCard1" > "Read Text Line1" pin [Out] to "TextMultiSource1" pin [In]

• Connect TextMultiSource1" pin [0] to "ContainsText1" pin [In]
• Connect "ContainsText1" pin [Out] to "Stepper1" pin [Enabled]
• Connect TextMultiSource1" pin [1] to "ReplaceText1" pin [In]
• Connect ReplaceText1" pin [Out] to "TextToInteger1" pin [In]
• Connect TextToInteger1" pin [Out] to "IntegerMultiSource1" pin [In]
• Connect IntegerMultiSource1" pin [0] to "UpDownCounter1" pin [Initial Value]
• Connect IntegerMultiSource1" pin [1] to "UpDownCounter1" pin [Reset]
• Connect PulseGenerator1" pin [Out] to "UpDownCounter1" pin [Down]
• Connect "UpDownCounter1" pin [Out] to "UnsignedToDigital1" pin [In]
• Connect "UpDownCounter1" pin [Out] to "CompareValue1" pin [In]
• Connect "CompareValue1" pin [Out] to "Counter1" pin [In]

In Visuino, at the bottom click on the "Build" Tab, make sure the correct port is selected, then click on the "Compile/Build and Upload" button.

If you power the Arduino module, The positions for the Stepper motor will start to rotate and when the amount of steps from the first line is reached it will go to the next line of steps and start to rotate.

Congratulations! You have completed your project with Visuino. Also attached is the Visuino project, that I created for this tutorial, you can download it and open it in Visuino: https://www.visuino.eu