powerr supply to control two stepper motors, where can i find such a beast ?

Question

Hello everybody,I am in the middle of Texas and I need some wizard on the electricalside of things to guide me. I need to have two stepper motorscontrolled by a computer by the end of next week.Motor rating voltage/amps : 2.48 V, 4 Apower supply needed: 5 V, 8 A per motor.current limiting resistor: 0.63 Ohms.In order to control the two motors we need a power supply fast as wellas the irght current limiting resistors that can do the job. I amthinking of buying a bunch of 5 V power supplies from radio shack andput them in parallel in order to reach the right amps level.Any other ideas, as to where we can get a power supply on the net, nearhouston, austin or college station ?thanks in advance for any tip,Jake.

Mercury · Accepted Answer

Have you thought about using a computer PSU and its hefty 5v power line? These are generally heaps cheaper than standard xformers, have over load protection* etc. and so long as some minimum load is there should go 100%. More modern PSU's also have a 3.3v line. You also get the 12 volts as a freebee!

*Obviously you can pick the features you want, but be aware that the cheaper PSU's are often overrated (read the label on the side carefully) and no-name brands often have a high failure rate. You may be best to pull a known good PSU out of an old computer...

Modern (ATX) PSU's (300 watts to over 550 watts) (20 pins in 1 block, or 24 pins for the very latest types) have a Power OK signal which needs to go to ground the turn the PSU on. Older AT PSU's have 2 x sets of pins in 2 blocks - they also tend to have much lower ratings IE 230 watts was a common 'large' PSU for AT.

16A? No sweat.

Newbie · Answer

Mercury,I followed your advice on the PSU, it works beautifully, thanks for thetip.Jake.Mercury wrote:electrical

powerr supply to control two stepper motors, where can i find such a beast ?

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