Right, there isn't a function to turn off the motors - the main reason for it is I could never get it working! Can turn the motors off using the AF_Motor interface ok, but I couldn't ever figure out how to do it through the Accelstepper wrapper.

What would you use it for - I mean what part of the workflow would you use it in?

sandy noble

Hi guys!

Sorry if this is an old post but it also applies to me. As mentioned by lennart sometimes it's good to have the option to unlock the motors in order to adjust the gondola position or even to extend the motor's life avoiding overheating. As Sandy said, it's not possible to do that using AccellSteper library. I had a similar issue a time ago when building a little CNC. and the solution was to physically cut the power using a relay. Of course, this approach makes the circuit a little more complex but I think it's a good solution for our case. It also depends on what kind of shield or drivers you are using to control the motors.

My suggestion (and will try it later by myself) is to use a physical pushbutton or a button on controller program that tells to Arduino to toggle on/off a pin that is connected to a transistor that controls a relay; and this relay connects external power source to motor shield. It'd require at least a minor change on arduino firmware. I intend to try it some day after finish other issues in my machine.