Re: Mystery driver and motor

Advanced Rapid Robotic is the first hit on google. I didn't see a
board number, but when you remove it, there may be a place undernieth
with a board number. An E-mail to the tech support may yield a
installation or calibration manual. not that the board is that important.

There is no photo of the driver. the board may also have a
manufacture number, and those data sheets may be available.


Looks like add-on board is as you said, a remote signal device.

I'm guessing the motor is a 5 phase so is matched to the driver.

5 wires of the motor to 5 terminals on the driver. any it is high
step count and low cogging as you surmized.

As for inputs. remove the add-on board and the silk screen would have
pretty much the same letters as the board.

PS VCC would be Power Supply Vcc
PS GND would be Power Supply Ground



CW and CCW would be your inputs. clock wise and counter clock wise.
Not quite step and direction, but close enough to make it work easily.

If that is the case,then all you need is a buffer card with a logic
chip. let the step run thru the chip, and let the DIR select which
output to use.

Here's the rub. without a data sheet, you don't know what voltage to
drive it with. ergo, reverse engineer that ARRM board. The two PS
Vcc lines are connected and run around the board. it MAY be a 5 volt
PS. check the the two IC's for their data sheets. check the resistos
on the LED's and calculate voltage based on 10mA.

Since it looks like the power is comming thru that board and is
handled by the traces on it, the current cannot be that high. Also,
since there is not 5V voltage regulaotr or any semblence of a
step-down or power regulation for the driver logic as opposed to the
driver power supply, I would tend to think it is low voltage and low
current.

Now for testing.....

Assuming all the switches are set for the last time it ran, I would
assume it can run again by just adding power and your input signal.


What are the IC chip numbers ?
remove that board and take a photo of it from the bottom. it may be
that you can run the driver directly from the PC, but more likely (and
more safely) you need to make a small board with the step and
direction on it.

measure the power trace for PS Vcc between the MON and POWER circles
then google PCB TRACE WIDTH CALCULATOR and use 5 volts and that width
to see the maximum current. (the lower reading is for traced between
multiple layer boards, you are on top, or exposed)