Sidecar pwm ports 5 and up aren't responding

[Dragonbots]

I really need help on this, im using labview to program our robot
Apparently when i download the code to contol the motors that are connected to PMW ports 5 and 6, they dont respond. When in the driver station, it gives me the error of it being invalid, i dont know how to fix this problem, any help and or advice will be really appreciated.:)

[DavisC]

mind sharing a snippet of your begin.vi and teleop.vi?

[Dragonbots]

sorry but the laptop i program with isn't this one

[EricH]

Try taking a screenshot (or a photo of the screen that shows the blocks and connections clearly), and transferring that to the computer you're posting on.

[Dragonbots]

Although, i used the defualt robot main vi. given in labview and insted of PWM 1 and 2 to be use to move the motors, i switched to 5 and 6 and it wouldnt respond, its the default code with nothing changed.

[DavisC]

What wire are you using for the connection from cRIO - DSC? (if it is the ribbon, make sure it is properly assembled, or try a cable you know works).

Also, do the victors/jaguars have a solid light? or flashing? or any?

Are the 3 lights on the DSC lit green too?

And is the module in the proper slot of the cRIO (can open Imaging Tool and make sure the one labled 9403 is green).

[Michael Corsetto]

Are the 3 lights on the DSC lit green too?

We had a similar problem with "higher up" pwm ports (5 and higher) weren't responding. The problem was from lack of 12 volt power to the DSC. Check to make sure it's getting 12 volt power from the PDB to the DSC. Then all three lights should light up and the DSC should function properly. At least this is what fixed the problem for us. (Just fyi, without 12 volt power, only the middle light on the DSC lights up.)

-Mike

[EricH]

What wire are you using for the connection from cRIO - DSC? (if it is the ribbon, make sure it is properly assembled, or try a cable you know works).

[snip]
And is the module in the proper slot of the cRIO (can open Imaging Tool and make sure the one labled 9403 is green).
I can attest that they're using a KOP cable, reassembled per the instructions, and the last time I checked, their cRIO modules were in the right places.

They've also been able to run on port 1.

[Dragonbots]

also, when i do download the code to run ports 5 and 6, it gives error code
-44061 and that the code is running too slow. any help on how to fix this.

[EricH]

Light status: all green on DSC; Jags 1-4 good.

[Dragonbots]

Yes, thats our status so far, i did disabled our safety config VI's and i dot get the error any longer, but the motors still dont respond

[DavisC]

when you enable the DS, do the Jaguar/Victor lights turn solid (if not, try rotating the PWM wire around, if still does not work then the code isn't properly getting to the Motor Controllers).

[slijin]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1121172&postcount=3
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061349&postcount=2
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1029629&postcount=3

[EricH]

when you enable the DS, do the Jaguar/Victor lights turn solid (if not, try rotating the PWM wire around, if still does not work then the code isn't properly getting to the Motor Controllers).
I think we've established that it probably isn't electrical. I got them on the flipped PWM a couple weeks back, when we were trying to get a motor running from PWM 1. They should remember that one...

It's something in code, I'm reasonably certain--but in that case, why isn't anything showing up on anything higher than Port 4 on the Sidecar?

In other words: PWM 1, working. PWM 2, working. PWM 3, working. PWM 4, working. PWM 5 or higher, not working. Using the default code and switching say PWM 1 to PWM 5 doesn't help (though where the switch was made, I don't know).

[DavisC]

I would attempt changing only the PWM back to 1 in the code (and the DSC). And if it works then I guess you have a broken DSC; but if it does not work then it leaves the potential for something else to be the problem (including the rest of the code).

[Dragonbots]

I would attempt changing only the PWM back to 1 in the code (and the DSC). And if it works then I guess you have a broken DSC; but if it does not work then it leaves the potential for something else to be the problem (including the rest of the code).

well i tired that, I set the code to run pmw ports 5 and 6, and it didnt work, then i switched back to pmw port 1 and 2 and it worked, so could our DSC be broken?

[EricH]

I'm wondering if the DB-37 cable made contact all the way when it was reassembled. It can't hurt to check the continuity on pins 5 and higher.

The other thing I'm curious about is, when you have the Jaguar on port 5, with code set for port 5, what is the Jag's light doing? Yellow solid or yellow blinking?

[Dragonbots]

the jaguars are blinking

[EricH]

No code getting to the Jags. But the Jag power and PWM connections are good at the Jag end.

Definitely check the DB-37 pins 5 and up for continuity. I think there might be something with that due to the reassembly.

[DavisC]

Alright so somewhere between the cRIO and the Jaguars, the code is not connecting.

So testing 1 at a time to isolate the problem, I would try a different...
1. ...DSC
2. ...cRIO-DSC Cable
3. ...cRIO Module

If you do this while the robot is Enabled then you can just look for the Jaguar lights to turn solid. For whichever item you changed that time (then works), the resonable idea is that it is that item...

[EricH]

Davis, while I like your suggestion, it's just not feasible right now for this team. They're rookies, with one cRIO FRC-II and one set of modules and one cable. When you only have one, it's kind of hard to change them out. (Unless they can borrow one over the weekend at the local preship scrimmage.)

That's why I'm suggesting they check the DB-37's continuity on the higher pins; if it's the cable, they can rework it again.

[DavisC]

Ok, I was not aware of that.

I just looked at the assembly instructions; would you be able to use a Voltmeter (and use the ohms setting) and attempt to measure resistance by connecting 1 lead to say Pin 1 of male side and other lead to pin 1 of female side?
(I will try that tomorrow, but should that sucessfully tell whether each pin is connected properly?). Or are there already better ways of testing, posted?

[EricH]

Ok, I was not aware of that.

I just looked at the assembly instructions; would you be able to use a Voltmeter (and use the ohms setting) and attempt to measure resistance by connecting 1 lead to say Pin 1 of male side and other lead to pin 1 of female side?
(I will try that tomorrow, but should that sucessfully tell whether each pin is connected properly?). Or are there already better ways of testing, posted?
Yes, that's how you'd do it. For the female side, it's helpful to have something to extend the pin out of the connector.

[slijin]

No code getting to the Jags. But the Jag power and PWM connections are good at the Jag end.

Definitely check the DB-37 pins 5 and up for continuity. I think there might be something with that due to the reassembly.

Unless something went horribly wrong during reassembly, I seriously doubt this is the issue. If you've put one together (which I assume you have), you'd know how the pins cut through the wire - although I suppose that if not clamped together properly, the pins wouldn't be making contact.

also, when i do download the code to run ports 5 and 6, it gives error code
-44061 and that the code is running too slow. any help on how to fix this.

Was this issue ever resolved?

But the Jag [...] PWM connections are good at the Jag end.

How exactly has this been confirmed on Jags 5 and up? Were the PWMs from Jags 1-4 plugged into these Jags to ensure that they are functional?

[badger3.14]

my team has repeatedly had ports go out on sidecars. the only solution that we have found is to replace the sidecar.

[Grim Tuesday]

This happened to us. It turned out to be our ribbon cable to our C-RIO. FIRST gave it to us made wrong and we had to re-cut it, and we did it wrong too. We used the big cable from last year, and all ports worked fine, so I would suggest trying that.

[slijin]

This happened to us. It turned out to be our ribbon cable to our C-RIO. FIRST gave it to us made wrong and we had to re-cut it, and we did it wrong too. We used the big cable from last year, and all ports worked fine, so I would suggest trying that.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1127684&postcount=8

[bearfromtx]

Yea stop day is tomorrow, and we are having the same problem. It came from now where for us. We had our bot finally working and suddenly nothing. We have replace the sidecar but cannot get the PWMs to output to Jag/Victors. We are using the big cable from previous years, but I will have to check that tomorrow.

Any other suggesting anyone can give? I spend half the day troubleshooting the problem and cannot find anything other than the PWM output from the DSC. All motor control lights are blinking yellow indicating that my assumption is correct, but just cant find a solution.

[Schmidty850]

We got it working. The solution?
Remove the sidecar and replace it with another. Remove all wiring and re do it. Re-image and re-deploy code and a working bot we got just in time for stop build time :)

[EricH]

We got it working. The solution?
Remove the sidecar and replace it with another. Remove all wiring and re do it. Re-image and re-deploy code and a working bot we got just in time for stop build time :)
Like I said earlier, replacing the sidecar is NOT AN OPTION. Redoing the wiring might be an option, but not right now.

The re-image and re-deploy might be an option, but we're just about all out of time.

[Mark McLeod]

It might be worth something to take the Sidecar apart and clean out the inside of metal debris.