Help Needed

[The Gresley Luthier]

Many Thanks m_c,
.
Please slow down a bit, I really appreciate all your help, but you are forgetting I said I was above a beginner in electrics, but now you are talking in terms which are a foreign language to me, so my learning curve is massive not slow. Words like SSR, Different Line Drivers, what are they??

Regards and Thank you.
Ray

[m_c]

Many Thanks m_c,
.
Please slow down a bit, I really appreciate all your help, but you are forgetting I said I was above a beginner in electrics, but now you are talking in terms which are a foreign language to me, so my learning curve is massive not slow. Words like SSR, Different Line Drivers, what are they??

Regards and Thank you.
Ray

It's good to know what you do and don't know.
SSR = Solid State Relay.
Essentially a purely electronic relay with no mechanical parts, however the switching output is specifically AC or DC (the internal silicon changes for AC/DC switching, and are not interchangeable)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164768154926 is an example of one that would switch up to main AC voltage.
Big benefit is they're capable of handling high current for a cheaper price than an equivalent mechanical relay/contactor.


If you look at the stepper driver terminals, for the step/direction signals, each have a + and -.
You can wire these so the - is at 0V, then simply switch the + to 5V (or 12/24V using a resistor), however for better noise immunity, you can drive them with a differential signal.
A differential signal uses two wires, and as one wire switches 'high', the opposite wire switches 'low'.
This gives far better noise immunity, and is achieved by using a differential line driver chip.

IIRC most current Arduinos, only output 3.3V, which will be very borderline for switching a DM driver, if it switches it at all.
So you're likely going to need some kind of buffer board anyway, and adding differential line drivers would be minimal cost for a big benefit.