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SLCU002 – September 2016
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BOOSTXL-ULN2003 Dual Stepper Motor Driver BoosterPack Hardware
User's Guide
SLCU002 – September 2016
BOOSTXL-ULN2003 Dual Stepper Motor Driver
BoosterPack Hardware
1
Introduction
1.1
BOOSTXL-ULN2003 Dual Stepper Motor Driver BoosterPack Overview
The BOOSTXL-ULN2003 provides an easy-to-use development board to interface with up to two unipolar
stepper motors using any Launchpad in the Launchpad Ecosystem. This user’s guide details a hardware
description of the BoosterPack, how to interface the BoosterPack with external hardware, various modes
of operation, and additional features.
The BOOSTXL-ULN2003 allows for the control of eight high-current (up to 500 mA per channel), high
voltage (up to 30 V), sink outputs. These outputs are controlled either through a serial (3-pin) or parallel
(8-pin) mode. Using the BOOSTXL-ULN2003 in serial 3-pin mode allows for control of two unipolar
stepper motors while only requiring 3 General-Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins, ultimately allowing for
flexibility in design and reduction in the number of GPIO pins required.
The BOOSTXL-ULN2003 can not only be used to provide an interface to unipolar stepper motors, but also
can be used in the following applications.
•
Relay Driving
•
Solenoid Driving
•
LED Driving
•
High-Voltage Logic Level Shifting
For additional information regarding these applications, see
What is a Peripheral Driver? Applications and
Design Considerations
.
The Boosterpack is not limited to one specific application at a time, but can be used for all of these
applications simultaneously. For example, one BoosterPack could enable driving one stepper motor,
driving one relay, driving two LEDs, and shifting a 3.3-V logic signal to a 24-V logic signal at the same
time.
Figure 1. BOOSTXL-ULN2003 Connected to MSP-EXP430F5529LP
