HOW DOES IT WORK?

Stepper 19 Click is based on the DRV8424, a stepper motor driver from Texas Instruments, made for both industrial and consumer applications. This integrated circuit stands out with its comprehensive integration, including dual N-channel power MOSFET H-bridge drivers, a microstepping indexer, and integrated current sensing. The DRV8424 operates on an external power supply ranging from 5V to 30V and can drive up to 2.5A of full-scale output current. Its design eliminates the need for external power sense resistors by utilizing an internal current sense architecture, conserving PCB space and reducing overall system cost.

The DRV8424 optimizes performance through an internal PWM current regulation scheme, offering smart tune, slow, and mixed decay options selections. The smart tune feature dynamically adjusts to ensure optimal current regulation, compensates for motor variations and aging, and minimizes audible noise produced by the motor.

Control over the stepper motor is achieved via a straightforward STEP/DIR interface, which permits an external controller to dictate the motor's stepping direction and rate. Microstepping resolution ranges from full-step to 1/256, selectable through the STP pin of the mikroBUS™ socket, with the direction controlled by the DIR pin. The device also includes a low-power sleep mode accessible via the RST pin. It has several protection features for conditions like supply undervoltage, charge pump faults, overcurrent, short circuits, and overtemperature, with fault indications through the FLT pin. The DRV8424's enable/disable function is managed by the EN pin.

Additional functionalities on this Click board™ are achieved over the PCA9538A, an 8-bit I/O port from NXP, which interfaces with the main MCU via I2C, offering selectable addresses through the ADDR SEL jumpers. Besides DIR and STP pins on the mikroBUS™ socket, the PCA9538A can also control these functions if the R12 and R16 resistors are populated on the board. This configuration flexibility, combined with the DRV8424's efficiency and the PCA9538A's extensive control capabilities, makes Stepper 19 Click a powerful solution for driving stepper motors in various application scenarios.

This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VCC SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

SPECIFICATIONS