All,
I am using a 36V4 Tic to control a Nema 17 stepper motor to turn my tuning capacitor on a tuned mag loop antenna. Useful operation requires that the Tic and analog postion potentiometers be in my Ham shack and the stepper outside in an enclosure on my mag loop antenna.
The Tic is turning my stepper apropriately indoors with a short cable from the Tic to the motor when it is driving the capacitor and tuning the antenna. The motor draws 1.5 amps when turning the capacitor and about 1.25 amps in braking mode. It turns smoothly and positions well when using analog positioning with multi-turn potentiometers,
When I move it outdoors it will require a 50-foot long cable from the Tic to the motor. I plan to use a 18-gauge dual twisted pair jacketed cable to carry the drive signals to the motor outdoors to my antenna, where the stepper motor will be.
Please comment on my cabling choice.
Thank you,
Paul, KE7UAE