Tic Stepper Motor Controller library for Arduino

www.pololu.com

Summary

This is a library for the Arduino IDE that helps interface with a Tic Stepper Motor Controller (T500, T834, T825, T249, 36v4) using serial or I²C.

Supported platforms

This library is designed to work with the Arduino IDE versions 1.8.x or later; we have not tested it with earlier versions. This library should support any Arduino-compatible board, including the Pololu A-Star controllers.

Getting started

Hardware

The Tic Stepper Motor Controllers can be purchased from Pololu's website. Before continuing, careful reading of the Tic Stepper Controller User's Guide is recommended.

I2C connections

To control the Tic using I2C, you should connect your board's SCL pin to the Tic's SCL pin, connect your board's SDA pin to the Tic's SDA pin, and connect one of your board's GND pins to one of the Tic's GND pins.

Serial connections

To control the Tic using asynchronous TTL serial, you need to at least connect your board's TX pin (as defined in the table below) to the Tic's RX pin, and connect your board's GND pin to one of the Tic's GND pins. If you want to read information from the Tic (as is done in this library's SerialPositionControl example), you must also connect your board's RX pin (as defined in the table below) to the Tic's TX pin.

The example sketches for this library use a hardware serial port on your Arduino if one is available: if your Arduino environment defines SERIAL_PORT_HARDWARE_OPEN, the examples will use that port. The pins for this serial port are different depending on which Arduino you are using.

Microcontroller Board	Hardware serial?	MCU RX pin	MCU TX pin
A-Star 32U4	Yes	0	1
A-Star 328PB	Yes	12	11
Arduino Leonardo	Yes	0	1
Arduino Micro	Yes	0	1
Arduino Mega 2560	Yes	19	18
Arduino Due	Yes	19**	18
Arduino Uno	No	10	11
Arduino Yun	No	10	11

** The Due's serial port is 3.3 V, so it should not be directly connected to the Tic's 5 V TX line. A voltage divider or level shifter can be used.

Tic configuration

Before using the example sketches, you should use the Tic Control Center software to apply these settings:

• Control mode: Serial/I²C/USB.
• Baud rate: 9600
• CRC disabled
• Device number: 14

Software

You can use the Library Manager to install this library:

1. In the Arduino IDE, open the "Sketch" menu, select "Include Library", then "Manage Libraries...".
2. Search for "Tic Stepper Motor Controller".
3. Click the Tic entry in the list.
4. Click "Install".

If this does not work, you can manually install the library:

1. Download the latest release archive from GitHub and decompress it.
2. Rename the folder "tic-arduino-xxxx" to "Tic".
3. Drag the "Tic" folder into the "libraries" directory inside your Arduino sketchbook directory. You can view your sketchbook location by opening the "File" menu and selecting "Preferences" in the Arduino IDE. If there is not already a "libraries" folder in that location, you should make the folder yourself.
4. After installing the library, restart the Arduino IDE.

Examples

Several example sketches are available that show how to use the library. You can access them from the Arduino IDE by opening the "File" menu, selecting "Examples", and then selecting "Tic". If you cannot find these examples, the library was probably installed incorrectly and you should retry the installation instructions above.

Classes

The main classes provided by the library are listed below:

• TicBase
• TicSerial
• TicI2C

Documentation

For complete documentation of this library, see the tic-arduino documentation. If you are already on that page, then click the links in the "Classes" section above.

Version history

• 2.2.0 (2024-11-20):
  • TicI2C: Added an optional parameter to the constructor to specify what I2C bus to use. Also added setBus, getBus, and setAddress.
• 2.1.1 (2021-06-22):
  • Fixed some compilation errors and warnings.
• 2.1.0 (2019-09-16):
  • Added support for the new Tic 36v4.
• 2.0.0 (2019-02-06):
  • Removed the 2 ms delay inserted after I2C reads. This makes the library incompatible with Tic firmware versions 1.00 and 1.01.
  • Added support for the new Tic T249.
  • Added features to support limit switches and homing, which were added in Tic firmware version 1.06.
• 1.2.1 (2018-03-19):
  • Fixed compilation errors in the SerialSpeedControl example.
• 1.2.0 (2018-03-16):
  • Added support for the new Tic T500.
  • Added the I2CSetCurrentLimit example.
• 1.1.0 (2017-11-02):
  • Added support for the new Tic T834.
  • Added the SerialMulti, I2CMulti, and I2CThreeButtons examples.
  • Added keywords.txt.
• 1.0.1 (2017-07-25): Removed the call to haltAndSetPosition in the SerialSpeedControl example because it is not necessary.
• 1.0.0 (2017-07-24): Original release.