Sidecar

[MichaelBielecki]

The side car was working fine. After turning the robot off and then back on, I am having problems with the sidecar. The side car has 3 power supply leds. The 5v one is not on. I know it gets the 5v from the ribbon cable going to the module in the crio. I don't know what would be causing the sidecar not to be getting the 5v. Is there a way of fixing this. I checked the sidecar and it is all plugged in. The only things in it is a tachometer and a limit switch.

[MagiChau]

The Digital Sidecar has to be wired to the Power Distribution Board for power. See http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2013/ElectricalLayout.pdf

[Lemons]

We had a similar problem where only the 5v led wasn't showing power. It ended up just being some metal shavings in the sidecar. We just took an air compressor and blew it all out and it worked. This might not be your problem but it worked for us.

[chris.boyle]

We had a similar situation last year also. The sidecar just stopped working at an event. We swapped it out and everything started working again. Once we had time, we opened it up and found one of the components had exploded. It must have gotten some metal shavings inside of it and shorted it out.

My suggestion is to blow it out like mentioned earlier, and open it up to see if any components have been damaged. If you find any damage, replace it.

[MichaelBielecki]

Thanks for the help. I opened it up and cleaned it. When i plugged it back in it worked like new.

[DonRotolo]

There is a very important lesson for all teams here.
Can you see what that lesson is?

[F22Rapture]

There is a very important lesson for all teams here.
Can you see what that lesson is?

http://architechdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dust_off.jpg

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Michael,
The 5 volt supply is derived from the 12 volt input to the sidecar. Some 5 volts leaks down the ribbon cable but not enough current is available to run the side car and the PWM outputs. However, the 6 volt supply is also derived from the same 12 volt input. You were very lucky that clearing the debris allowed the DSC to return to normal operations. The lack of the 5 volt LED indicated that the supply was in fault and the only thing saving you was the current limit designed into power supply. Thank you Eric VanWyk and Russ Beavis.

[MikeE]

There is a very important lesson for all teams here.
Can you see what that lesson is?

Is it: Don't let the mechanical team near the electronics with a drill?

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/img/9c9/9c9041b2b4a80b3db8b0b0b6819993ef_m.jpg
Damage from metal shavings (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/24374)