A4988 Stepper Motor Driver Module for Pololu RepRap 3D Printer StepStick (Pack of 2)

Works and got me through my senior design project

If you are needing to drive a NEMA 17 motor up to 1 or maybe 2 Amps this driver module may be just what you need. I have seen a lot of reviews that mention module overheating and motors that just vibrate or run erratically when connected to the module and I have to say the same thing happened to me. It wasn’t the driver module’s fault though. I found that if you crank the reference voltage potentiometer fully counterclockwise before ever connecting power and then easing it up clockwise incrementally once power is applied and monitoring the stepper motor coil amperage you will avoid the overheating issue. The buzzing motor, or erratic operation issue occurs if you don’t connect the motor windings up to the driver outputs 1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B correctly. StepperOnline labels the windings as A+, A-, B+, and B-. If you connect A+ to 1A, A- to 1B, B+ to 2A, and B- to 2B things work as you would expect. Once I figured this out I was able to drive the motor to 0.6A under full load (stalled motor armature) for several minutes with no signs of overheating in the driver module or the stepper motor. My power supply could only drive 12 volts at 0.6A so I couldn’t push things any higher but since things stayed cool and stable at those levels (except for my power supply!) I am pretty confident that when my new power supply comes in I will still be OK at 1.5 to 2 amps. Will come back and edit this review if I find out otherwise. At this point though, I am very satisfied with the A4988 stepper motor driver! One other note - one of the two tantalum capacitors I had in parallel across the motor supply power connectors in the photo exploded like a firecracker during this testing. And, no, I didn’t have the polarity wrong on the one that exploded. They were both rated at 33uF and 35 volts. Switched to a 2200uF 50v electrolytic and it help up just fine. Guessing that transients generated by the motor windings exceeded the voltage rating and caused the poor little bugger to short out and over heat.

I was given a 3D printer that did not work correctly. The filament was not advancing. I replaced the stepper driver with this one, and it started working.

one of them lacked glue, works though

Exactly what I needed! Worked perfectly. Love that it’s a 2 pack so I have a backup on hand in case any other issues arise unexpectedly.