[stjuuv]

Hello,
I am having some problems with my stepper motor setup, and would like to get some feedback.
We recently purchased a peristaltic pump with a stepper motor from welco.net. The stepper motor is bipolar and has 4 wires leading to it.
Upon arrival, it became clear that the pump wouldn't start working on itself, and we would need a way to control it via a PC.
That lead us to probotix.com, from where we purchased a SideStep driver, which should be able to connect to the pump motor and a PC and let us control the pump.
Now that we have the driver here as well, I am still confused about the whole thing. I have a 24VDC power supply, which I can hook up to the driver, and I am pretty certain I have the motor hooked up to the driver as well, but what is confusing me is the connection to the PC. The probotix support told me that it is possible to use the driver for computer-controlling the stepper motor, but I haven't been able to get more feedback from them.
The PBX header (which is described in the pdf user manual) should give me all the wiring I need to connect to the PC. I can understand the use of STEP, DIRECTION and ENABLE pins, but the GROUND and +5VDC connectors I am not sure about. If I were to connect the PBX pins to a parallel port cable, I could use EMC2, for example, to set the respective pins to step, direction and enable, but what should I do with the +5VDC and GROUND pins? Can I get +5VDC and ground from the parallel port, or will I need some additional hardware?
Thanks in advance,
Steven.

[stjuuv]

Basically, as I see it, it comes down to whether or not I can connect the driver directly to the parallel port, or will I still need a breakout board, although I am going to use only a single motor?
If this direct connection is possible, can I connect the ground wires to the parallel port somehow, and can I get the +5VDC (which is the logic controller power supply, I guess) from the parallel port, or will I need a separate +5VDC power supply for the logic controller, besides the 24VDC power supply I have for the motor power? As I understand, the driver isn't capable of getting the logic controller power from the same power supply as the motor itself?

[_AR_]

You will need a 5V power supply to connect to the +5V and respective GND connection to supply the board power.

[RomanLini]

If the PC has a USB port, they can supply +5 volts at about 100mA (depends on which PC etc). Since the +5v is only needed for your stepper driver brain, the USB +5v may be enough to do the job.

[stjuuv]

Hello again,

I finally managed to get around to hooking the driver up with correct voltages, but now I have some more problems, and perhaps someone has some advice for me.
First of all, as soon as I plug the power supplies in, the motor starts making noise and shaking slightly, as if it were moving erratically, even if I have no connection to the PC. The noise changes as I touch the wiring, and even the motor casing. It seems to be most sensitive to the step signal wire, but I can get the motor to move a few steps just by tapping the motor casing.
Second, the motor gets quite hot, even after a few minutes of testing. As far as I could tell, the motor is well within its current treshold, although the voltage that I had to measure to adjust it, was not very stable.
Third, I am using EMC2, and as far as I can tell, I have all the settings and wiring correct, but I seem to get the motor to only move in one direction, regardless of what I tell it to do from the software.

I would appreciate any feedback on any issue you can give me.