Current limiting on a stepper controlled by L293D on an arduino board

arduinocurrent-limitingl298pwmstepper motor

I currently have a bipolar stepper motor connected to a l298n, with one resistor to each coil.

The problem is it draws a lot of power when there is no need to, and limits the maximal power of the stepper.

The l298n is connected to an arduino. Can i use the arduino pwm to limit the current?

I already tried with the Enable pin on the l298n board, but the motor did not work correctly.

This thread is similar to my question, but it doesn't clearly answer the question Is it possible to run a stepper motor only with a L293D at reduced current?

EDIT1:

I have 2 bipolar stepper motors(phase current 1.6A), and 2 l298n controller boards.

Best Answer

Look at this Digital Potentiometer on Arduino's Website

On this one you have 64 setting of resistance.

Connect these like you would resistors. It's basicly 64 resistors that you can "switch" the resistor via your Arduino sketch.


You'll need to find a different chip for the right resistance levels and wattage. I didn't look at this one hard but it was only controlling a LED: not 1.6 amps. It might, but I doubt it.

And it would take only 2 pins for both motors, even if you need four chips because they use the same protocol than allows multiple devices on the same 2 lines.