Simple (read: I don't want to learn) stepper motor driver?

I purchased this neat little piece of surplus largely for the optics:
SHARP LASER ASSEMBLY - Surplus Shed

And it has a phenomenal little octagonal mirror attached to a stepper motor. I don't know exactly what I'll do with this gem, but I'd love to be able to activate and spin the stepper motor.

Challenge is - I don't know anything about running stepper motors...and, to be frank, I'm not incredibly interested in learning :yabbem:

Wikipedia seems to suggest that there are different configurations and types. From what I can tell, this motor has three (3) contacts. Is that enough information for someone to suggest a simple schematic for a basic driver?

there are 3 wires coming to the board: red, black and white. red is usually +, black usually - and white should be some sort of "enable" signal (if you send a pulse here, the stepper will jump 1 step forward). try quickly conneting the white wire to + or - and let us know, what happens
powering it up: start by applying smaller voltages to + and -, like 5V. if the motor doesn't do anything try 12V and if that doesn't work, try 24V

That is not a stepper motor, that is a 3-phase brushless motor with its own driver and controller integrated in the PCB attached to it.

You can run it if you get the + and - connections from the connector (and, maybe, a confirmation signal), just powering them ..... still you need to know some things, before.

It's a 5V unit, a 12V unit or a 24V unit ? ..... and, does it have a "blank / turn off" signal that is positive, negative, or null ?

Once you know this, you can power it directly.

BTW, can you post some macro pics of the PCB ? ..... this can help in giving better replies, too, cause there are around some different units, with different signal polarities.

Yep - I've definitely been able to get it to move with a 3.7V lithium ion. It's a bit of a challenge re: contacts, given the way this motor is actually fastened to the stock board. I'm left using contact points on the PCB that I arrive at by following the traces that emerge from "under" the motor.

But yes - I can definitely move the motor slightly - but that's it. How do I get fluid circular movement? Is it a matter of flipping polarity rapidly? Or something more complex?

Edit: as said from 3zuli, yes, this can be the case (or the white can be a synchro pulsed output for drive the LD driver) ..... now for the power voltage ..... try 5V on red and black only ..... if it does not run, try to connect the white to +V or -V, through a 100 ohm resistor (just for not overload it in case it's an output ..... if nothing happens, you can try to increase the power supply voltage to 12V, and again, if it does not run, trying to touch +V or -V with the white through the resistor ..... one of these combinations must work.


It probably need more voltage ..... 5V or 12V ..... NOT ON THE MOTOR, on the connector ..... doing this on the motor, you're risking to burn the driver IC, and after this, you can throw it away.


By the way, those things are great in building "liquid sky" effects just changing the original module with a visible one, and removing the plastic lenses

Interesting! I assumed it was a stepper motor because of the behavior I observed when trying to power via the pins (ie, the partial movement of maybe 30 to 40 degrees).

I'll grab my DSLR when I get home, and try to tackle some macro shots! Give me ~2 hours, and I'll report back in