VAL3100: WiFi/Thread/Zigbee Stepper Motor Controller

The VAL3100 is the VAL3000's multiprotocol sibling: the same stepper controller built on the Espressif ESP32-C6, which adds Thread, Zigbee, Matter, and BLE alongside Wi-Fi. That makes it the right pick for low-power and battery applications — Thread and Zigbee sip power compared to Wi-Fi, and ESPHome supports Thread out of the box.

What's on the board

• Espressif ESP32-C6 (Wi-Fi / Thread / Zigbee / Matter / BLE)
• Trinamic TMC2209 driver with StallGuard and StealthChop
• 2A synchronous DC/DC converter (up to 95% efficiency stepping down to 3.3V)
• USB-C port for flashing
• Three onboard buttons
• End stop connections
• 4-pin JST XH motor connector, plus exposed pads for direct soldering

Setup in three steps

1. Flash. The VAL3100 ships as a bare board, ready for the open-source firmware of your choice. Grab a prebuilt binary from our GitHub releases and flash it from your browser at web.esphome.io over USB-C — about one minute.
2. Connect. Plug in any 4-wire bipolar stepper motor and a 12–24V, 2A+ power supply (2.1mm × 5.5mm barrel connector).
3. Control. On first boot the board creates its own Wi-Fi hotspot. Join it from your phone, add the board to your network, and control it from any browser. It's automatically discoverable in Home Assistant — and with the ESP32-C6 it can also run over Thread or Zigbee for low-power, battery-friendly setups.

Firmware and code

Everything is free and open source. The full source and ESPHome configuration live in our GitHub repository — fork it, tweak it, and make it your own.

Hardware details

Trinamic TMC2209

One of the best stepper drivers on the market — feature-rich and affordable. StallGuard lets you stop the motor whenever load exceeds a threshold you set, so a jammed curtain or an unexpected hand ends the move instead of stripping hardware. StealthChop keeps operation near-silent. All driver parameters are programmable from the ESP32 over UART.

Flexible motor connection

Connect your motor two ways: the onboard 4-pin JST XH plug, or wires soldered directly to the exposed pads.

Three buttons

Sometimes it's nice to press a physical button. Behavior is entirely up to your firmware — a common setup uses the top two for open/close (or forward/reverse) and the bottom one to reset Wi-Fi.

Specifications

Which board is right for you?

If you only need Wi-Fi, the VAL3000 gives you the same driver and layout for less. If you want true closed-loop position control, the VAL3101 is this board plus an AS5600 magnetic encoder — absolute position that survives power loss, no re-homing required.