help on 10 wire stepper motor

Have you tried probing it with an ohmmeter?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I think, if you try a continuity test that you'll find: There are 2 sets of isolated poles i.e. 2, four pole, 5 wire steppers. With a multimeter on Ohms you will probably find very high resistance between any one wire and 5 others - that is they belong to the 'other set' and a fairly low resistance between any particular wire and the other 4 in the same set. If you measure each wire to the other four in a set then one wire will show half the resistance to the other combinations - that is the common for that set and the other 4 are the poles. Pole to Pole measurement will give you the resistance through 2 poles. Pole to common is only 1 pole. you'll just have to find the correct sequence by trail and error then.... It should run with just one set connected - but by using both sets alternately you'll halve the step size. Hope this helps. It's only a (semi) educated guess.

J> Hi,

The patent itself can be found at this link: =

As diagrammed, I count only 8 wires for 8 poles, but I'm guessing the = "extra" 2 wires are a result of it being wired in 2 sets of 4 poles = each, which would give you 5 wires per set. Each 2 poles within a set = has a common wire between them. 4 poles within a set are wired in = series, with one wire coming out between each 2 pole - giving you a = choice of how to wire it - unipolar, bipolar, etc.

Hope that helps and everyone *please* feel free to correct me if I am = leading him wrong ! JCD

Because the plate says it's a four-phase stepper (rather than a five phase stepper, and the pics seem to bear that out), then I'd surprimse two of the wires are for some sense function. The other eight are typical for a four-phase stepper where the wiring does not use commons.

-- Gordon

On May 25, 6:32 am, zeb wrote: (Snip)

(End Snip)

A good deal of understanding on the operation Of stepper motors can be found at

Unfortunately disassembling stepper motors in most cases KILLS the motor or at least severally weakens them see this reference A lot more information on why one should NOT disassemble stepper motors (specifically) can be found on 'Do It Yourself CNC' related sites such as and other CNC discussion forums / groups.

In the future, use a Ohm Reading on a meter to determine what connects to what.

If you really want the pinouts for the Motor then you could just send an email to snipped-for-privacy@orientalmotor.com or call them at

1-800-GO-VEXTA (1-800-468-3982).

Just a thought

The Hirudinea

wires are a result of it being wired in 2 sets of 4 poles each, which would give you 5 wires per set. Each 2 poles within a set has a common wire between them. 4 poles within a set are wired in series, with one wire coming out between each 2 pole - giving you a choice of how to wire it - unipolar, bipolar, etc.