Patent ID: 8278851

Claim:
A drive apparatus having a stepping motor comprising: a magnet rotor having a plurality of magnetic poles that are magnetized; a stator having a magnetic pole portion that opposes each magnetic pole of the magnet rotor; a coil configured to excite the magnetic pole portion; a position detector configured to detect a position of the magnet rotor; a first driver configured to switch an electrification state of the coil in accordance with a preset time interval; a second driver configured to switch an electrification state of the coil in accordance with an output signal of the position detector; and a controller configured to select the first driver or the second driver, wherein the controller selects the first driver when a peak of the output signal of the position detector is less than a first threshold, and wherein the controller selects the second driver when the peak of the output signal of the position detector is equal to or larger than the first threshold.