ESP8266 Community Forum

- Fri Dec 21, 2018 12:46 pm #79668 I can't get an entire polite request all in the Subject line, so:

With help from this forum, I got my NodeMCU ESP8266 E12 V3 to move my 28BYJ48 (geared) stepper (albeit somewhat spastically); however, it only seems to work with a very few example sketches.

What is the difference between the various (unipolar) stepper motor library files that seem to give so different results?

My results go from making the motor do a quarter turn each way (with Stepper.h) then, seemingly, re-thinks its purpose in life and just stops doing anything although the sketch suggests there is more to do (well, at least, this one moved the motor!) to flashing fine but the motor does nothing (with sketches including AccelStepper.h) or a total failure to compile (as with Uni_polar_Stepper.h - the one I had most hope for). Some sketches don't include a library so it appears those sketches are "bit banging" ?(No luck, at all, with those, BTW!)

Also, what (from the perspective of a noob that knows enough to cause himself grief) should I be looking for in the construct of stepper control sketches? I know I have a unipolar motor and I am not ready, yet, to graduate to anything flashed or controlled by WiFi (although I picked the NodeMCU for that ultimate application, too).

I hope this is not toooooo noob for this forum but I've had this little setup for going on two months and all I'm wanting to do is flash a sketch, hook up batteries and have the motor make 10 turns forward on 2 turns back every 10 minutes using the Arduino IDE! (You can't see it from my inquiry but I do have some ancient knowledge of basic programming and electronics - which may actually be the source for my overthinking this problem!!)

Any pointers?????

- Fri Dec 21, 2018 3:53 pm #79674 I have not yet tried those libraries, although I hope to do something with the unipolar steppers I have.
I'm too busy to take a look at them, although I wish I could.

But one thing I would try is to increase the time between steps. Some steppers can not respond when the step rate is too quick.

- Fri Dec 21, 2018 5:39 pm #79675

I have not yet tried those libraries, although I hope to do something with the unipolar steppers I have.
I'm too busy to take a look at them, although I wish I could.

But one thing I would try is to increase the time between steps. Some steppers can not respond when the step rate is too quick.

Thanks, Rudy! I played around with so many settings over the last few weeks that I lost track but I'll re-visit those settings since I can't remember what just nudged the stepper and what just caused my setup to laugh at me (probly in a binary sort of laugh, lol - hey! is "lol" kind of a binary laugh?)

On a related note, the author of the "Uni_polar_Stepper" library file contacted me in response to an issue I found and he said he corrected the file and is ready for upload... if that was something you may be interested in. The correction may have been of no consequence to an experienced eye, but I've been grasping at any straw that has blown my way to help explain why I can't move that stoopit little stepper - in a controllable fashion, that is!