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IndustryArena Forum > CNC Electronics > Stepper Motors / Drives > Should steppers be wired with "twisted pairs"?
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    380

    Should steppers be wired with "twisted pairs"?

    When wiring stepper motors, should they be wired with twisted pairs? If so, what are the correct "pairs" on a 6 wire motor? I never seem to find any information on this, but when stepper shopping on ebay, I often see motors with the leads in twisted pairs.

    John

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    450
    twisting wires as pairs is done for interference immunity. The theory is that if you have a differential signal sent along two twisted conductors, then they will both recieve the same noise, and as the signal is differential it cancels out.

    Stepper wires dont need to be twisted, as any noise will be irrelevant compared to the voltages on the wires.

    That said it is good practice to use shielded wire, and ground the shield at one end. The reason for doing this is that the stepper wires will radiate EM noise, which may be picked up by nearby electronics, and a grounded shield removes this problem. For small steppers this is less of an issue, and it probably wont hurt things if you dont, like i said its just a good practice.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    24216
    Wires that carry appreciable current produce E.M. field, this field can be cancelled to a great extent by twisting two conductors together that have opposite field (e.g. feed and return wire), by doing this, the fields tends to cancel each other out, therefore reducing the radiation and the effect on lower level signal wiring.
    Al.
    CNC, Mechatronics Integration and Custom Machine Design

    “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
    Albert E.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    450
    oops, didnt really think of using twisted wires to reduce emmission, Al is completely right on the emmission front, i just never had to worry about it as i use shielded wire.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Posts
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by johnmac View Post
    what are the correct "pairs" on a 6 wire motor?
    John
    You should use twisted triples with a 6-wire motor. One of the wires will have zero current making it in effect a twisted pair.

    Regards,

    Tim.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    380
    Thanks!

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