Higher (more than 5V) step/dir voltages with mesa cards (7i96)

Hi,

right now I try to connect a 7i96 with (very) old Berger Lahr D500 stepper drives. The drives have internal pullups (10k) to 12V at step and dir inputs.

So I need a solution to sink the drive inputs to ground while not killing the (I assume) hex inverters on the mesa card.

Is there a way to change the inverter on the card (7i96) with one tollerates up to 12V?

The drives are obviously single ended. So the "-" step/dir output of the card is enough.

Best regards
Julian

I would suggest using something like a ULN2003 as a level shifter

Yes, you are right. Didnt thought about darlingtons, but yes, they will be fast enough for this configuration.

So I will have to build a small board in between.

You can still get ULN2003's in DIP packages
so for three axis only one chip (perhaps in 
a socket) on a bit of perfboard would do.
 

Yes. I also think its the easies solution.
Darlington transistors at each driver is way more work.

Thanks for the hint. Will do it with an array.