Reprap Micro-stepping Driver A4988 1/16-Micro-Step (Peak 2A) w/ Heatsink

This breakout board for Allegro’s A4988 micro-stepping bipolar stepper motor driver features adjustable current limiting, over-current and over-temperature protection, and five different micro-step resolutions (down to 1/16-step). It operates from 8 V to 35 V and can deliver up to approximately 1 A per phase without a heat sink or forced air flow (it is rated for 2 A per coil with sufficient additional cooling). This board ships with 0.1" male header pins included but not soldered in.

Features:

• Simple step and direction control interface
• Five different step resolutions: full-step, half-step, quarter-step, eighth-step, and sixteenth-step
• Adjustable current control lets you set the maximum current output with a potentiometer, which lets you use voltages above your stepper motor’s rated voltage to achieve higher step rates
• Intelligent chopping control that automatically selects the correct current decay mode (fast decay or slow decay)
• Over-temperature thermal shutdown, under-voltage lockout, and crossover-current protection
• Short-to-ground and shorted load protection
• Made as pluggable modules to a electronics motherboard. A good reason of this design is, that it is easy to exchange the module boards when troubleshooting - or when a board has burned out.

Overcurrent Protection:  If the boards get too hot, they will interrupt the current until it cools a bit. If the current is too high for the heat sinking, the motors will pulse as the current is interrupted and restored. See http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?4,116813,116832,quote=1 and its video. Try reducing the current until the pulsing stops.

Specification:

• Operating voltage: 8V ~ 35 V DC
• Continuous current per phase: 1.2 A2
• Maximum current per phase: 2 A3
• Minimum logic voltage: 3V
• Maximum logic voltage: 5.5V
• Microstep resolutions: full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16
• Weight: 3.7g

Applications:

• Stepper motors
• 3D printer, CNC, engraving machines
• Supported 3d printers like Prusa Mendel, ultimaker, printbot, makerbot and so on

Package included:

• 1 * A4988 module
• 1 * Heatsink