Lab #1 Connecting the Super Stepper board to the PC
Introduction:
After this lab, the user will have gathered basic knowledge on how to connect the Super Stepper Controller module to the computer, sending commands to the module and operating the stepper motor with the SS-ST68 controller.
Objectives:
- To connect the PC computer to the Super Stepper Controller Module.
- To connect the RS-232 driver and form the communication link.
- Control the stepper motor with simple to use commands from the windows application.
Connecting it all:
This is it! Time to start working with the Super Stepper Architecture. By following the following guidelines, you will find it very easy to do! Refer to the picture below for more information:
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- Make sure the system Power Supply is not powered.
- Connect the PBMB J7 Serial port to the PC COMM 1 Serial port with a DB9 female to male conventional serial cable. (This is any serial cable with pins 2 and 3 interlaced).
- Connect 12V power to the PBMB at J5 connector, pins 3 and 4. Make sure +12V power is connected to J5:3 while Ground is connected to J5:4.
The previous steps have given us the serial communication platform. The PBMB contains an RS-232 driver chip which will generate the TTL levels the Super Stepper controller module needs to properly talk with the computer. 12V power is regulated down to 5V, the voltage used by the RS-232 driver.
And now to connect the module!
- Connect 12V power from the PBMB J10 to the SS-ST68 J1 2 pin connector. Use the 2 wire harness for this purpose observing proper polarity. J1:1 is +12V while J1:2 is Ground.
- Connect the three wire harness from the PBMB J9 into the SS-ST68 J3 connector. Make sure pin 1 (Green wire) is connected to pin 1 on the PBMB J9 and SS-ST68 J3.
- Connect the four wire stepper into the SS-ST68 J5 connector.
- Make sure jumpers JMP1 and JMP2 are not placed on the respective two pin header (jumpers are said to be open).
You are all set with the hardware. Next, lets bring the software up and start doing some controlling!
- Power up your PC computer.
- Power up Super Stepper based system
- As soon as the windows operating system comes up, open the Super Stepper Test Application by double clicking its icon (please follow the installation instructions if not done so yet).
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- Under Communications select COMM Port->Comm1.
- Under Communications select BAUD Rate->2400.
- Under Communications select Data Format ->8 bits
- Press Connect (The Connect menu option changes to Disconnect)
- Under Boards, press Stepper. A new stepper controller window opens.
For the following steps, you will be using the Stepper Controller window similar to:
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- Make sure the “Address” text box on the “Stepper Instructions (for Advanced Users)” frame contains a 0.
- Press the “Move CW” button found under the “Turn CW Speed” frame.
And there it goes! The stepper should be rotating clockwise at this moment. Isn’t it fun? We can control the stepper’s direction of rotation as well. Let’s see how we do this.
- Press the Large “Stop” Button on the “Stepper Stop” frame. The motor should stop.
- Press the “Move CCW” button found under the “Turn CCW Speed” frame.
As you can see, the motor is now moving on the CCW direction, opposite as before.
Congratulations!!! You have successfully completed the first lab on the Super Stepper Architecture. You are now capable of connecting single node Super Stepper systems and controlling stepper motors!
Hungry for more? Next topic is controlling stepper speed while we use the motor as a rotation device.
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Last Updated on Jan 10, 2008
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