The maximum current at which I can drive the stepper motor

stepper motor

I am using Oriental's PK-243-03A stepper motor in bipolar series configuration. The rated current of the motor is 0.31A/phase according to its datasheet. My question is if I am supplying it with 12V, then what is the maximum current I can run my motor on? For both the phases to be on i.e. in full stepping my motor should draw 0.62A, isn't it? Is it okay if I supply my motor 2.5A? I have seen people saying that its okay to drive stepper on higher currents, like this guy here on this forum

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/stepper-motors-drives/129864-doubt-regarding-stepper-motor-current-rating.html

But I have also read some totally contradicting views regarding high currents like in this article here http://smoothieware.org/cnc-mill-guide, it says

Each stepper motor model has a precise current rating. You can drive
your stepper motor at a lower current, which will make it more silent,
but also less powerful. But you can not drive the motor at a higher
current than it is rated at, this would cause overheating, and
possibly skipped steps

What is the correct way? higher currents or no higher currents? Really confused.

Best Answer

Based on what can be gleaned from the website you linked you ought not to exceed the phase current specified. This is how I see but if you can find proper data sheets, they might tell a different story.

Firstly look at the torque-speed curve (linked on the page): -

enter image description here

If you do the math, you'd calculate that the maximum mechanical output power is about 1 watt (100 rpm and 0.1 N.m = 1.047 watts). This is about the same at 200 rpm ( 200rpm and 0.06 N.m = 1.26 watts). At 400 rpm output power is 0.837 watts hence, you can see the max output power is 1.26 watts.

With a coil current of 0.31 amps per phase and a coil resistance of 38.5 ohms (as stated), the power (heat generated not mechanical power) is 0.31^2 x 38.5 watts = 3.7 watts and this means your stepper motor can be running quite hot.

Having said that, this "apparent" inefficiency (some simplification and assumptions made here) of about 25% will not be at optimum mechanical output. At optimum power output ( I reckon about 100rpm), the power in will be about 2.1 watts assuming a peak efficiency of about 60%. This is about "normal" for steppers of this type.

So, if you are always going to be running about 100 rpm, the current into the coils will be lower than 0.31 amps BUT, the details in the link are really unclear about this so caution should be taken.

Conclusion - I don't think you can dare run the coils at more that 0.31 amps based on what the specification says. I recommend finding out more about the device. Try looking at one from a regular supplier i.e. one that has a proper pdf data sheet and deciding what information that data sheet provides that this one doesn't.