How to start a stepper motor without electronics

I have a lot of different office equipment that is out of order. I don’t dare throw it away, but maybe it will come in handy. It is possible to make something useful out of its parts.
For example: the stepper motor, which is so common, is usually used by DIYers as a mini generator for a flashlight or something else. But I have almost never seen it used specifically as a motor to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. This is understandable: to control a stepper motor you need electronics. You can't just connect it to voltage.
And as it turned out, I was wrong. A stepper motor from a printer or some other device is quite easy to start from alternating current.
I took this engine.
How to start a stepper motor without electronics

How to start a stepper motor without electronics

They usually have four terminals and two windings. In most cases, but there are others, of course. I'll look at the most popular one.

Stepper motor circuit


Its winding diagram looks something like this:
How to start a stepper motor without electronics

Very similar to the circuit of a conventional asynchronous motor.
To start you will need:
  • Capacitor with a capacity of 470-3300 µF.
  • 12V AC power supply.

We close the windings in series.
How to start a stepper motor without electronics

We twist the middle of the wires and solder them.
How to start a stepper motor without electronics

We connect the capacitor with one terminal to the middle of the windings, and the second terminal to the power source at any output. In fact, the capacitor will be parallel to one of the windings.
How to start a stepper motor without electronics

How to start a stepper motor without electronics

We apply power and the engine starts to spin.
How to start a stepper motor without electronics

If you transfer the capacitor lead from one power output to another, the motor shaft will begin to rotate in the other direction.
How to start a stepper motor without electronics

Everything is extremely simple. And the principle of operation of all this is very simple: the capacitor forms a phase shift on one of the windings, as a result of which the windings work almost alternately and the stepper motor rotates.
It's a shame that the engine speed cannot be adjusted. Increasing or decreasing the supply voltage will not lead to anything, since the speed is set by the network frequency.
I would like to add that in this example a DC capacitor is used, which is not a completely correct option. And if you decide to use such a connection circuit, take an AC capacitor. You can also do it yourself by connecting two DC capacitors in back-to-back series.

Watch the video


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Comments (5)
  1. Guest Anatoly
    #1 Guest Anatoly Guests 1 April 2018 15:45
    5
    Electrolyte in AC circuits? Even if it’s back-to-back, why such a large capacity? 1-uF is enough
  2. Guest Igor
    #2 Guest Igor Guests 26 May 2018 23:01
    2
    Ha, cool! In two light machines after the winter, spikes flew out, I thought I would have to fence the garden. And according to this scheme, they plowed it with minimal modification. Well, 1 uF, of course, is not enough, but K71-17-4.7*63V work OK!
  3. Guest Sergey
    #3 Guest Sergey Guests December 21, 2018 20:35
    2
    The engine is heating up
  4. Guest Alexander
    #4 Guest Alexander Guests 2 June 2020 16:26
    1
    Thank you very much to the author. It was very helpful.
  5. Sergey
    #5 Sergey Guests 21 October 2020 21:16
    8
    Good day!
    Could you tell me how to connect the same motor, only with five outputs?