Aruino/adafruit motor shield stepper motor ???

[Twister773]

So i have a new project I am gonna attempt. This is my first time doing anything this in depth with this stuff and I could use some help. I have the Arduino duemilanove and the adafruit motor shield. My goal with this is to be able to adjust my headlights from inside my car like most higher end cars have. Is it possible using a stepper motor to have a middle area then a max and min. For example it will probably take 20 turns in and 20 turns out before the mechanical headlight adjuster maxes out...how would i set up the arduino/adafruit so that it wont let the stepper motor go any further than the mechanical setup can go. Or is it even possible

[adafruit_support_bill]

If you know exactly how many turns it takes, you can count the turns. Otherwise, you can use a mechanical limit switch or optical detector to find the limits of movement.

[Twister773]

Thanks for the fast response. Counting the turns might be a pain and not very accurate...could you give me a link or a place to look to find out more about the mechanical limiting switch or the optical one. Thanks again

[Twister773]

If i were to count the turns it takes...i could use any stepper motor, and would just need to put in the programming to only let the stepper motor turn plus or minus 25 full turns?

[adafruit_support_bill]

There are hundreds, if not thousands of designs for different types of applications. But this should get you started.
Optical Sensors: http://www.ia.omron.com/product/50.html
Limit Switches: http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/switc ... /index.htm

[cstratton]

You are pretty much going to have to go with limit switches. Turn counting wouldn't work unless the circuit were constantly powered or saved the turn count to eeprom.

More importantly though, when steppers encounter too much of a load (say a rusty spot on the adjuster bolt) they miss steps. It's quite likely that your step count will end up off after a while if you have no means to rezero it at least daily. So you shouldn't rely on it to avoid overtravelling the mechanism.

I also think this could end up being a real safety hazard if not very well engineered. It's not always easy to tell from inside the car if your headlights are aimed right, and hitting opposing drivers in the face is not a good idea.

[ag17842]

So the kit comes with a 6 wire stepper which is ideal for what im trying to work on but i need a pde h and cpp file that match the 6 wire to start. I guess this is AF tech support so if somone could help me to this pt of point me to a tutorial suited to a physics non programer i thank you.

[adafruit_support_bill]

Do you have an ohmmeter? You will need to start by determining which wires are which. This link shows you how: http://www.jasonbabcock.com/computing/b ... index.html
Best to continue this in a new topic.