Powering stepper motors

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1

Hi! I recently bought two Nema 17 stepper motors from the shop along with the Adafruit DC & stepper motor HAT for a rpi-based project. I’m new to electronics and have no idea how to power this thing, so looking for some help. What I’m wondering is this:

  1. Is the Adafruit HAT the right thing for connecting the two Nema 17s to a rpi zero?
  2. What kind of power supply do I need?
  3. Googling around, I read something about heatsinks possibly being needed for the driver, does this apply to my situation?

Have a nice day! :)

2

If its this, https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/adafruit-dc-stepper-motor-bonnet-for-raspberry-pi
It can run two stepper motors.
Also have a look at this. It may fill you in on what power supply you need.
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-dc-and-stepper-motor-hat-for-raspberry-pi

3

Thanks for the answer, this answers my first question. I was actually reading that article (which was suggesting you might need a heat sink. What I’m mostly wondering is how big of a PSU do I need for those motors (the nema 17:s listed in the pimoroni shop, https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/nema-stepper-motor?variant=31384801017939). I want to know what Volt / Amps that the PSU should be able to handle and if this means I need a heat-sink for the driver.

4

The product info says 1.68 amps / phase, not sure what that means. Is there more than one phase? Also, doesn’t mention voltage.

5

There’s some power supplies suggested on the ‘Powering Motors’ page of the guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-dc-and-stepper-motor-hat-for-raspberry-pi/powering-motors

The voltage used to control stepper motors is variable, and all controlled by the stepper driver. You just need to make sure the supply or battery pack you’re using is able to offer enough power, if you’re wanting to drive two motors from that HAT then use a 12v supply that can offer at least 5A.

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