Stepper driver current divide

[mtompson]

If you have a stepper driver with a current output peak of say 4amp, do you need all four stepper wires (i.e A+ A- B+ B- ) to be rated for 4amps or can they be rated for 1amp (i.e 4 wires divided by 4amps)?
many thanks for any help...

[vtxstar]

What is really important is that your motor can handle the 4A current.

4A is not a lot of current for a hobby CNC project. 16 gauge wire is rated at 4A.
So to answer your question - Yes, you need all four stepper wires to be rated for 4A (assuming your motor is rated at 4A).

Please provide more information on your motor ratings, the drive and the voltage your are running just to be clear.

[mtompson]

many thanks for your post, here are links to the driver and motor combo I'm using..
Driver:
http://www.motioncontrolproducts.co....0datasheet.pdf

Motor:
http://www.motioncontrolproducts.co....&products_id=6

many thanks for any help...

[vtxstar]

Ah yes, thank you for the links. Your motor link shows various ways to wire the motor. Note that they all have a different peak current and a voltage rating also.

Your controller has switch settings for different peak currents to adapt to the motor you have.

To make this easy on yourself. Just use the same wiring size that is on the motor to run to the controller and set your controller to the peak value of the motor current.
For example: if your motor has #18 wire (or the UK equivalent), run #18 from the motor connection to the controller connections.

Your controller is smart enough to not exceed the set current -- unless something goes wrong in it. Use the controller wiring information as your guide for interconnection. Double and triple check all the wiring with the controller information. Do ONE AXIS only and get it working before the others. This ensures you only destroy one thing rather than two or three.

It also simplifies the mess and makes the next axis more likely to succeed on the first pass.

Good luck and ask anytime.

[mtompson]

many thanks for the advice, my motor wires are 22 AWG so around the 2amp mark?
I have a setting where the RMS = 1.69AMP and the Peak is 2.37AMP which sounds like a good level?
There are lower ones putting the Peak below 2AMP so I'm not sure what to choose.

[vtxstar]

Originally Posted by mtompson many thanks for the advice, my motor wires are 22 AWG so around the 2amp mark? I have a setting where the RMS = 1.69AMP and the Peak is 2.37AMP which sounds like a good level? There are lower ones putting the Peak below 2AMP so I'm not sure what to choose.

The peak rating on the wires is much higher than the RMS. Find the closest to 2A RMS or just over and use that.