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I recently purchased an Arduino UNO along with some other hardware. At the time of purchase, I didn't know about Arduino's motor shield and so I purchased a two channel stepper motor driver (2A per channel) that was said to be "Shield Compatible". I recently received my hardware and have been following the introductory tutorials since I'm completely new to the Arduino platform. Things are going well but I didn't receive any documentation with the motor driver. There is a datasheet provided on the vendor's website but it is beyond my current level of competency.

My question: since the driver is said to be "Shield Compatible", does this mean that I can assume that I can interface with it the same way as an authentic Arduino shield. In other words, can I follow the motor shield tutorial on Arduino's website without any risk of damaging hardware and expect the driver I purchased to function properly.

The product that I purchased can be seen here: http://www.robotshop.com/ca/en/dual-bipolar-stepper-motor-controller-arduino.html

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You should do you own research as the path followed here did not result in the identically pictured nor identically model numbered item.

You indicated you are using a certain Arduino motor driver board. On that page there is an "made by" or "by" reference to an OEM. On the OEM's web page there is a "Dual Bipolar Stepper Motor Shield for Arduino" but the part number and the picture do not (exactly) match your original link. Regardless, there is what they are calling a "WIKI page" for this (slightly) different motor shield. I scanned this page and the example code. I don't see where any device driver is mentioned. And I don't think the code will compile by its self.

In general, I suggest people who are starting out with Arduino's to stick with well known hardware and software. Even then I have had problems with newly released hardware. Also check if drivers and SDKs have been updated each time you start a project.

Another approach you might entertain is to follow a path starting with the chip used on your shield. It appears to use two DRV8825. (But I cannot be sure as pictures and model numbers do not (exactly) match.) Here is a discussion on the a well known Arduino web site where people are talking about boards with this chip on it.

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  • Thanks. After a lot more reading, I connected the driver board onto my Arduino, powered it with an external supply and ran the code on the WIKI page that you linked to and everything is working fine. Apr 2, 2017 at 22:13
  • Good to hear you had success!
    – st2000
    Apr 3, 2017 at 3:36

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