STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier (Header Pins Soldered)

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Pololu item #: 2879
Brand: Pololu
Status: Active 
RoHS 3 compliant


This version of our STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier ships with male header pins installed, so no soldering is required to use it with an appropriate 16-pin socket or solderless breadboard. Please see the STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier product page for more information about the driver.

Alternatives available with variations in these parameter(s): header pins soldered? Select variant…

Compare all products in STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carriers or 16-pin Stepper Motor Drivers.

Pictures

STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier (Header Pins Soldered).

STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier (top view).

STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier, bottom view with dimensions.

Minimal wiring diagram for connecting a microcontroller to a STSPIN820 stepper motor driver carrier.

Jumpers for FLT and DECAY pins on the STSPIN820 stepper driver carrier.

Schematic diagram of the STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier.




This version of our STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier ships with male header pins installed as shown in the main product picture, so no soldering is required to use it with an appropriate 16-pin socket or solderless breadboard. Please see the STSPIN820 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier product page for more information about the driver.

Dimensions

Size: 0.6″ × 0.8″
Weight: 2.5 g

General specifications

Motor driver: STSPIN820
Minimum operating voltage: 7 V
Maximum operating voltage: 45 V
Continuous current per phase: 0.9 A
Maximum current per phase: 1.5 A
Minimum logic voltage: 2 V
Maximum logic voltage: 5.5 V
Microstep resolutions: full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/128, 1/256
Current limit control: potentiometer
Reverse voltage protection?: N
Header pins soldered?: Y

Identifying markings

PCB dev codes: md37a
Other PCB markings: 0J11739

File downloads

Recommended links

Frequently-asked questions

I want to control a 3.9 V, 600 mA bipolar stepper motor, but this driver has a minimum operating voltage above 3.9 V. Can I use this driver without damaging the stepper motor?

Yes. To avoid damaging your stepper motor, you want to avoid exceeding the rated current, which is 600 mA in this instance. All of our stepper motor drivers let you limit the maximum current, so as long as you set the limit below the rated current, you will be within spec for your motor, even if the voltage exceeds the rated voltage. The voltage rating is just the voltage at which each coil draws the rated current, so the coils of your stepper motor will draw 600 mA at 3.9 V. By using a higher voltage along with active current limiting, the current is able to ramp up faster, which lets you achieve higher step rates than you could using the rated voltage.

If you do want to use a lower motor supply voltage for other reasons, consider using our DRV8834 or STSPIN-220 low-voltage stepper motor drivers.

Do I really need to set the current limit on my stepper motor driver before using it, and if so, how do I do it?

Yes, you do! Setting the current limit on your stepper motor driver carrier before connecting your motor is essential to making sure that it runs properly. An appropriate current limit also ensures that your motor is not allowed to draw more current than it or your driver can handle, since that is likely to damage one or both of them.

Setting the current limit on our A4988, DRV8825, DRV8824, DRV8834, DRV8880, STSPINx20, and TB67SxFTG stepper motor driver carriers is done by adjusting the on-board potentiometer. We strongly recommend using a multimeter to measure the VREF voltage while setting the current limit so you can be sure you set it to an appropriate value (just turning the pot randomly until things seem to work is not a good approach). The following video has more details on setting the current limit:

My stepper motor driver is overheating, but my power supply shows it’s drawing significantly less than the continuous current rating listed on the product page. What gives?
Measuring the current draw at the power supply does not necessarily provide an accurate measure of the coil current. Since the input voltage to the driver can be significantly higher than the coil voltage, the measured current on the power supply can be quite a bit lower than the coil current (the driver and coil basically act like a switching step-down power supply). Also, if the supply voltage is very high compared to what the motor needs to achieve the set current, the duty cycle will be very low, which also leads to significant differences between average and RMS currents: RMS current is what is relevant for power dissipation in the chip but many power supplies won’t show that. You should base your assessment of the coil current on the set current limit or by measuring the actual coil currents.

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