Pololu Tic T249 smart stepper motor controller

I came across this little stepper controller board that does just what I needed. This can manage the motor's position, auto home, and more. This is a quick overview, as I am already using this board in a larger machine that's nearly finished.
www.pololu.com/product/3138

[@billsmith5166]

Thanks for the vid and comfort and health to your friend under the bench. I've got a couple of Cardigans and I couldn't live without my nitwits.

[@robsciuk729]

It seems that the PID algorithm is pretty good for acceleration/deceleration ... thanks for the heads up on the unit ... seems cost effective.

[@UndernetSystems]

Man that acceleration is so sexy

[@MrAlexhasker]

How do you find the stepper noise, is it almost silent like a Trinamic TMC2100 stepper driver (but smarter?)

[@richie4540]

There is some but it’s pretty quite

[@mastermoarman]

Have you looked into the tmc 2209?

[@mbmahan39]

Try L6470, does the same thing with I2C and it's way cheaper

[@neneeveryday2716]

Can someone explain what are the two chips on the breadboard? (Not the tic)
And am I able to do what is done here without the two chips?

[@Corgitronics]

On the breadboard, the chip on the left is a rectifier that isn't used. The small board in the middle is a level-shifter like www.amazon.com/Adafruit-4-Channel-I2C-Safe-Bi-Directional-Converter/dp/B00NAY3J7O or www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Channels-Converter-Bi-Directional-3-3V-5V/dp/B07F7W91LC
The level-shifter is not required, but some devices won't detect the i2c communications at only 3.3V levels. In the final machine I used a USB-TTL adapter to communicate with the Tic using the serial protocol.

[@neneeveryday2716]

@@Corgitronics may I ask why the usb ttl adapter. Was the software not working properly? Or were you developing some type of script

[@Corgitronics]

@@neneeveryday2716 The machine I made used all of the available pins on a Raspberry Pi 3 for sensors and input buttons, so I had to move the stepper controller to a USB connection.