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Defensoft3585
19-01-2013, 12:03
Hi,

Our robot design this year uses two transmissions with two motors in each tran for driving (all motors are CIMs). Each CIM is driven by a separate Victor. If the motors go at different speeds, we would obviously break the transmission. How do we ensure that both CIMs on one side go at the same speed? Does RobotDrive take care of this automatically? Or is there some way to treat 2 Victors as one? Any help is appreciated. We are using Java and WPILib to program the bot.

Thanks,
Defen3585
Ether
19-01-2013, 12:15
If the motors go at different speeds, we would obviously break the transmission.

The motors can't go at separate speeds, since they are mechanically linked together.

If the two motors on one transmission are each getting a slightly different voltage from their respective Victors, or if they are getting the exact same voltage but one motor is slightly less efficient than the other, then what will happen is this: the motors will both be going at the same speed, but one of the motors will be carrying slightly more of the load than the other because it is providing slightly more torque. This does not break the transmission.
Defensoft3585
19-01-2013, 12:20
The motors can't go at separate speeds, since they are mechanically linked together.

If the two motors on one transmission are each getting a slightly different voltage from their respective Victors, or if they are getting the exact same voltage but one motor is slightly less efficient than the other, then what will happen is this: the motors will both be going at the same speed, but one of the motors will be carrying slightly more of the load than the other because it is providing slightly more torque. This does not break the transmission.




Thank you very much Ether. This clears it up for us. Just wanted to be careful - last year out transmission flopped out on the floor during several matches :)