How to Wirelessly Control a NEMA 17 Stepper Motor With an ESP32 and an A4988 Driver Board

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to control a NEMA 17 stepper motor with an ESP32 and an A4988 driver board.

Supplies

What You Will Need With Link

For the power supply i use this adafruit HUSB238 USB Type C Power Delivery Dummy Breakout. But you can use any 12v power supply but it has to be less than 1.2 amps or it will break the A4988 driver board

Step 1: Installing Libraries

For this you will need 1 libraries the AccelStepper to download this go to Tools>Manage Libraries or you can press Ctrl+Shift+I once you open library manager type in AccelStepper and download the one by Mike McCauley

Step 2: Wiring Diagram

You can use a capacitor but it is not required

Step 3: Code

#include <WiFi.h>
#include <ESPAsyncWebServer.h>
#include <AccelStepper.h>


const char *ssid = "SSID-HERE";
const char *password = "PASSWORD-HERE";


AsyncWebServer server(80);


// Define stepper motor connections and steps per revolution
#define motorStep 14
#define motorDir 12
#define motorEnable 4
AccelStepper stepper(1, motorStep, motorDir);


void setup() {
  // Set up serial communication
  Serial.begin(115200);


  // Connect to Wi-Fi
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(1000);
    Serial.println("Connecting to WiFi...");
  }
  Serial.println("Connected to WiFi");


  // Wait for connection
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500);
    Serial.print(".");
  }


  Serial.println("");
  Serial.print("Connected to ");
  Serial.println(ssid);
  Serial.print("IP address: http://");
  Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());


  // Initialize stepper motor
  stepper.setMaxSpeed(1000.0);
  stepper.setAcceleration(500.0);


  // Define web server routes
  server.on("/", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){
    request->send(200, "text/html", "<html><body><h1>Stepper Motor Control</h1><p><a href=\"/forward500\">Forward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward500\">Backward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward2000\">Backward 2000</a></p><p><a href=\"/forward2000\">Forward 2000</a></p></body></html>");
  });
  server.on("/forward500", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){
    stepper.move(500);
    stepper.runToPosition();
    request->send(200, "text/html", "<html><body><h1>Stepper Motor Control</h1><p><a href=\"/forward500\">Forward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward500\">Backward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward2000\">Backward 2000</a></p><p><a href=\"/forward2000\">Forward 2000</a></p></body></html>");
  });
  server.on("/backward500", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){
    stepper.move(-500);
    stepper.runToPosition();
    request->send(200, "text/html", "<html><body><h1>Stepper Motor Control</h1><p><a href=\"/forward500\">Forward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward500\">Backward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward2000\">Backward 2000</a></p><p><a href=\"/forward2000\">Forward 2000</a></p></body></html>");
  });
 server.on("/backward2000", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){
    stepper.move(-2000);
    stepper.runToPosition();
    request->send(200, "text/html", "<html><body><h1>Stepper Motor Control</h1><p><a href=\"/forward500\">Forward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward500\">Backward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward2000\">Backward 2000</a></p><p><a href=\"/forward2000\">Forward 2000</a></p></body></html>");
  });
 server.on("/forward2000", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){
    stepper.move(-2000);
    stepper.runToPosition();
    request->send(200, "text/html", "<html><body><h1>Stepper Motor Control</h1><p><a href=\"/forward500\">Forward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward500\">Backward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward2000\">Backward 2000</a></p><p><a href=\"/forward2000\">Forward 2000</a></p></body></html>");
  });


  // Start server
  server.begin();
}


void loop() {
  // Handle any necessary background tasks
  stepper.run();
}

Step 4: How the Code Works

Network Credentials

Insert your network credentials on the following variables.

const char *ssid = "SSID-HERE";
const char *password = "PASSWORD-HERE";

Motor Speed

 stepper.setMaxSpeed(1000.0);
  stepper.setAcceleration(500.0);

You can set the max speed and acceleration by changing the number in this line

Web Server

By defualt i added 4 modes but you can add as many ad you want

 server.on("/forward2000", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){
    stepper.move(-2000);
    stepper.runToPosition();
    request->send(200, "text/html", "<html><body><h1>Stepper Motor Control</h1><p><a href=\"/forward500\">Forward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward500\">Backward 500</a></p><p><a href=\"/backward2000\">Backward 2000</a></p><p><a href=\"/forward2000\">Forward 2000</a></p></body></html>");
  });

to change how far the motor moves change the stepper.move command

 stepper.move(-2000);

Step 5: Uploading the Code

After inserting your network credentials upload the code to your board.

If you have an ESP32 you should select ESP32 in the Tools> Board menu.

After that, select the COM port in Tools > Port.

Finally, upload the code.

After successfully uploading the code to the board, open the Serial Monitor at a baud rate of 115200. Press the RST button so that it restarts the board and it starts running the code.

You will see a link go to that link in your browser and you will be able to control the NEMA 17 with an ESP32.