Tic T500 USB Multi-Interface Stepper Motor Controller

Stepper motor controler with USB / Serial / I2C / Pot / RC interfaces

The Tic T500 USB Multi-Interface Stepper Motor Controller designed to control a stepper motor easily (with quick configuration over USB using the Pololu's free software). The controller supports six control interfaces: USB, TTL serial, I2C, analog voltage (potentiometer), quadrature encoder, and hobby radio control (RC).

This version of the Tic uses an MPS MP6500 stepper driver and is ship with soldered header pins and terminal blocks.

This Tic controler operates from 4.5 V to 35 V and can deliver up to approximately 1.5 A per phase without a heat sink or forced air flow (or 2.5 A max with sufficient additional cooling). As the Tic also support the current limiting features of steptick, you can also drive the stepper at higher voltage while keeping the current low to avoids the coil to burn (see this tutorial about the A4988 explaining this feature).

The Tic family of stepper motor controllers makes it easy to add basic control of a bipolar stepper motor to a variety of projects. It is a versatile, general-purpose modules supporting different control interfaces: USB for direct connection to a computer, TTL serial and I²C for use with a microcontroller, RC hobby servo pulses for use in an RC system, analog voltages for use with a potentiometer or analog joystick, and quadrature encoder for use with a rotary encoder dial.

Tic also have many settings that can be configured using the configuration utility (from Pololu for Windows, Linux, and macOS). This software make initial setup easy and allows in-system testing and monitoring via USB (a microB USB cable is required to connect the Tic to a computer).

Which Tic for your project?

Pololu have a complete familly of TIC's product. You can see all the modeles from this Pololu page.

The Tic T500, this product have the following features:

• Operating voltage: 4.5V to 35V
• Max continuous current: 1.5A (without cooling)
• Max peak current: 2.5A (cooling required)
• Microstepping resolution:
  
  • full
  • 1/2 step
  • 1/4 step
  • 1/8 step
• Automatic decay selection: YES
• Automatic gain control: NO
• Driver IC: MP6500 (more info here)

The Tic in video

Pololu produce this nice YouTube video to discover the Tic T500.

Technical details

• Open-loop speed or position control of one bipolar stepper motor
• Several control interfaces:
  
  • USB: direct connection to computer
  • TTL serial: for microcontroler (5 V logic)
  • I2C bus: for microcontroller
  • RC hobby: using servo pulses, compatible with RC system
  • Analog voltage: using a potentiometer or analog joystick
  • Quadrature encoder input: use with a rotary encoder dial, allowing full rotation without limits (not for position feedback)
  • STEP/DIR inputs: compatibility basic stepper motor control firmware
• Acceleration and deceleration limiting
• Maximum speed: 50.000 steps/second
• Very slow speeds: down to 1 step every 200 seconds (or 1 step every 1428 seconds with reduced resolution).
• Selectable microstep modes up
• Current limit: adjustable via numeric
• Optional safety controls to avoid unexpectedly powering the motor
• Input calibration (learning) and adjustable scaling degree for analog and RC signals
• 5V regulator (no external logic voltage supply needed)
• Optional limit switch inputs with homing capabilities
• Optional kill switch inputs
• STEP/DIR outputs for controlling external stepper motor drivers
• Connects to a computer through USB via a USB A to Micro-B cable (not included)
• Free configuration software available for Windows, Linux, and macOS

Based on MP6500 stepper driver

The Tic T500 is based on the MP6500 IC from Monolithic Power Systems. This driver IC features automatic decay mode selection, using internal current sensing to automatically adjust the decay mode as necessary to provide the smoothest current waveform.