Chinese Stepsticks vs Branded Pololu's?

Hi.

I've had some trouble with the stepper drivers I've used in the past.

As I've always been very tight on a budget for this hobby I tended to get the cheapest parts I could find.

I bought A4982 from ebay originally and 3 of the 4 died, wouldn't drive the motors without skipping.

So I bought a bunch of A4983's from Hong Kong and now the extruder one is doing the same thing. Keeps skipping a beat and no matter how much I tune it still does it.
I'm also running quite slow speeds with this new ABS, so it's not that I'm topping out my extruder as it has worked at twice this speed in the past.

Will buying the expensive versions of Pololu's fix this? Do they last longer and can they supply more power to the motors?

Thanks,

i'm not sure. but have you verified the trace widths and the components? what you do have is a part that the original designer was not involved with.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2013 11:02PM by jamesdanielv.

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I bought A4982 from ebay originally and 3 of the 4 died, wouldn't drive the motors without skipping.

Is it possible you simply forgot to adjust the trimpot? This is neccessary for all stepper drivers.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Sadly not so simple. If I didn't do that I would of never got the motors working in the first place.

Ive had lots of trouble with those cheap eBay A4982's also, I never tried real Pololus but i have G3D drivers now and really like them.

Thanks, I'll look into them

Pololu makes the carrier, the processor is Alegro. Some of the packages are difficult to get at times and even in an environment they command a premium price. If you see boards that are quite a bit lower cost than those from known distributors chances are they are counterfit. You can make your own Stepsticks that work just as well as Pololu boards but at that point you've spent more time and money than you would if you would have bought the original in the first place. If you are buying the stepper drivers from an unknown source it's possible that they are knock off Alegro drivers and not the real deal or may have another issue in the fab or design.

Has anyone tried the DRV8825 drivers?