Stepper and DC Servo Motor Drive Cables

Overview
Pin Diagrams
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Stepper Motor Cables
Thorlabs offers a variety of cables to support several stepper motor actuator and controller combinations. Supported stepper motors include our ZST, ZFS, and DRV actuators; supported controllers include our BSC benchtop controllers, our KST101 K-Cube™ Controller, and our MST602 Rack Control Module. In order to see which cable is compatible with a given combination of stepper motor and controller, please see the table below. The pin assignment for each cable is given in the Pin Diagrams tab. Please note that these cables cannot be used with motors and controllers that do not match their pin assignment, even if the connectors are the same.

DC Motor Cables
The PAA632 is a 2.5 m cable for our Z8 series of DC motor actuators. This cable is intended to be used with the KDC101 K-Cube DC Servo Motor Controller. The pin assignment for this cable is given in the Pin Diagrams tab. Although it uses a 15-pin connector, this cable is not compatible with any of our stepper motors.


	BSC Benchtop Controller and MST602 Rack Controller	KST101 K-Cube Controller	KDC101 K-Cube Controller^a
	PAA612 (1 m) or PAA613 (3 m)	PAA614 (1 m)^b	-
DRV Stepper Motor Actuators	PAA612 (1 m) or PAA613 (3 m)	PAA614 (1 m)^b	-
	-	PAA614 (1 m)	-
ZST and ZFS Stepper Motor Actuators	-	PAA614 (1 m)	-
	-	-	PAA632 (2.5 m)
Z8 DC Servo Motor Actuators	-	-	PAA632 (2.5 m)

Green shading indicates hardware for DC servo motors.
The KST101 K-Cube Controller can be used to drive our DRV Stepper Motor Actuators (excluding the DRV208, which is incompatible) at a reduced velocity.

PAA612 and PAA613 Stepper Motor Cables

DA15-Pin Male D-type to DE15-Pin Female D-Type

DA15 Male Pin	DE15 Female Pin	Description
11 and 12	1	Limit Switch Ground
10	2	Reverse Limit Switch
9	3	Forward Limit Switch
7	4	Motor Phase B-
14	5	Motor Phase B+
8	6	Motor Phase A-
15	7	Motor Phase A+
6	9	Reserved for Future Use
5	13	5 V

PAA632 DC Servo Motor Cable

DE15-Pin Male D-Type to DE15-Pin Female D-Type

PAA632

DE15 Male Pin	DE15 Female Pin	Description
1	1	Ground
2	2	Forward Limit Switch
3	3	Reverse Limit Switch
5	5	Motor -
7	7	Motor +
10	10	5 V Encoder Supply
11	11	Encoder Channel A
13	13	Encoder Channel B

PAA614 Stepper Motor Cable

DE15-Pin Male D-Type to DE15-Pin Female D-Type

PAA632

DE15 Male Pin	DE15 Female Pin	Description
1	1	Ground
2	2	CCW Limit Switch
3	3	CW Limit Switch
4	4	Motor Phase B -
5	5	Motor Phase B +
6	6	Motor Phase A-
7	7	Motor Phase A+
10	10	+5 V DC
15	15	Ground

Posted Comments:

user (posted 2019-01-29 14:31:22.34)

Why should the PAA614 not be used with the Z8 DC Servo Motor Actuators? What is the difference to the PAA632? Are they not both just DE15 Male to DE15 Female cabels with different lengths?

rmiron (posted 2019-04-08 12:47:17.0)

Response from Radu at Thorlabs: While both cables have the same connectors, they are wired quite differently. One can see these differences in the pin diagram tab. PAA614 was designed to be used with our non-encoded stepper motor stages or actuators, while PAA632 was designed for encoded, brushed DC Servo stages or actuators. Consequently, PAA614 has four pins who play an active role in powering up a two-phase stepper motor, while PAA632 only has two pins dedicated to powering up a motor.

aharon.b (posted 2019-01-10 05:37:33.22)

DA14 and DE15 are all regular connectors widely used. For example DE15 is used also for VGA. These connectors cost everywhere about 1 - 2 dollars. Frequencies of operations are not very high either, so no need for specially high frequency cables. Thus, wires are not that expensive either. So why all the wire extension products PAA6xx cost above 50 dollars (some way above 50 $) ??

AManickavasagam (posted 2019-01-14 11:29:14.0)

Response from Arunthathi @ Thorlabs: Thanks for your feedback. I will contact you directly to provide further information regarding the price.

andrew_yablon (posted 2015-05-21 12:08:37.943)

I have been waiting for a TST101 motor extension cable such as the PAA614 However, I am disappointed that the PAA614 extension cable is only 1 meter - why don't you have a longer version of the PAA614 such as the PAA632? Thank you, Andrew Yablon andrew_yablon@interfiberanalysis.com

mthrossell (posted 2015-08-25 02:48:12.0)

Thank you for contacting us. We can offer PAA614 as a special in lengths of 3 and 5 m. However, we do not recommend going over 5 m as the increase in resistance can cause some signal errors.

cjohns (posted 2007-08-02 11:36:43.0)

The cables can be very difficult to find. Please refine the search so searches like "stepper motor cables" will return results. Also, why not put ALL motion control cables on the same page???

View All »Matching Part Numbers

Stepper and DC Servo Motor Drive Cables

PAA612 and PAA613 Stepper Motor Cables

PAA632 DC Servo Motor Cable

PAA614 Stepper Motor Cable

Stepper and DC Servo Motor Drive Cables