While I went on to explore the most suitable module to control my stepper motor. Preferably for a CNC machine, and many promising contestants showed up. Contestants include l293d, TB560, DRV8255, A4988, Rees52 This blog decides the winner.
The good looking(DRV-8255) on the left is surely attractive and there doesn’t stand much difference when it comes performance with the A4988. The screw type adjustment to control the current limit is the same both the modules and might look different than yours as there are multiple chinese manufactures. Where aren’t they? Really? Handle the trim pot gently or else you might end up ruining the module
Heating was very common on both the IC’s which can be pulled down to an extent with additional usage of sink and fan cooling options. The A4988 seemed to cool off much faster when motor is not in operation. The polou IC is technically more reliable on paper. A4988 IC is tiny and might come off under intense heat and rugged usage.
On the programming front, The libraries were available combined for both of them and looked equally comfortable.
Mixing of both A4988 and DRV8255 worked fine on the CNC module. The availability of both in market is not the same, as drv8255 were found almost everywhere. And my observations below.
| A4988 | DRV8825 | |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | very widely available | widely available |
| Approx. price | 225RS | 185Rs |
| Max. theoretical current | 2A | 2.5A |
| Max. microsteps | 16 | 32 |
| PCB color | Green / Red | Purple |
| Stepper current adjust. trimpot | Yes, near Dir pin | Yes, near En pin |
| Typical Rs value | 0.05 Ohm or 0.1 Ohm or 0.2 Ohm |
0.1 Ohm |
| Vref formula (*) | I_TripMax= Vref/(8*Rs) | I_TripMax= Vref/(5*Rs) |
| Thermal Overload Protection (**) | Yes | Yes |
| PCB layers | 2 | 4 |
| Small heatsink included (***) | Almost always | Sometimes not |
| Active cooling required? | Recommended | Recommended |
| IC packaging | 5x5mm 28-lead QFN | 9.7×6.4mm 28HTSSOP |
The judgement? Well . . .
surendersampath 