Can We Wire Two Motors to a Victor?

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Posted by CArobot at 2/3/2001 12:33 PM EST


Other on team #619, CArobot, from Charlottesville Albemarle.



Hey:
We want to use a single speed controller to control two motors. Will the Victor 883 Blue support this? We need to know soon

CA Robot

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Posted by Kai Zhao at 2/3/2001 1:03 PM EST


Student on team #686, Botler & Associates, from Linganore High School, Frederick MD and NASA/GFSC and Smiths Industries.


In Reply to: Can We Wire Two Motors to a Victor?
Posted by CArobot on 2/3/2001 12:33 PM EST:



: We want to use a single speed controller to control two motors. Will the Victor 883 Blue support this? We need to know soon

Sure it will support two motors but is it smart and is it allowed? I checked the manual and I don't think FIRST really likes people running too much stuff off one fuse/relay/speed controller. I would recommend someone in your team to check the manual and check with FIRST. But then you should as yourself if it is wise to do so. Especially if you are using a drill motor, you are making your robot more likely to trip of fuse or something. And it would take an awefully big wire nut to fasten three 10 gauge wires together unless you can think of a smarter way to make a y-connector. Wire nuts are not the most durable things either.

I simply recommend in investing $115 on an additional speed controller and a PWM y-cable or a few extra lines of code.

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Posted by Matt Leese at 2/3/2001 2:47 PM EST


Other on team #73, Tigerbolt, from Edison Technical HS and Alstom & Rochester Institute of Technology.


In Reply to: Can We Wire Two Motors to a Victor?
Posted by CArobot on 2/3/2001 12:33 PM EST:



Well, it is possible to do but that's more or less a mute point because it's illegal. One motor/light/etc per spike or speed controller. So basically the answer is, use two speed controllers.

Matt

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Posted by Joe Johnson at 2/3/2001 5:14 PM EST


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.


In Reply to: Re: Can We Wire Two Motors to a Victor?
Posted by Matt Leese on 2/3/2001 2:47 PM EST:



I will have to check the rules, but it used to be
specifically allowed for SOME motors.

Basically, it was allowed for the seat motors and the
window motors (if memory serves).

From taking to Eric at FIRST, the idea was the the
stall current of these motors was sufficiently small
that it was not a burden on the Victors.

We are not running motors these in parallel this year
so I have not bothered to look up whether it is legal
this year. I can tell you that for these smaller
motors it was no problem at all for the Victors to
drive them in parallel. As to it being legal, I will
have to read the rules more carefully.

Anybody else got there book handy? Mine is at work.

Joe J.

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Posted by Matt Leese at 2/4/2001 1:42 AM EST


Other on team #73, Tigerbolt, from Edison Technical HS and Alstom & Rochester Institute of Technology.


In Reply to: This used to be legal.
Posted by Joe Johnson on 2/3/2001 5:14 PM EST:



Seems you were right. Just checked in the manual and it does say you can connect any two of the following motors to one speed controller: seat motor, window lift motor, 12 Vdc LEDs (yes, these are allowed though why you'd want to speed control an LED beats me -- yes, I realize they're are applications but not for the robot). I just read the part about no more than one of the drill, fisher-price, globe or van door motor can be powered by a single speed control and assumed that included everything.

Matt who realizes he needs more sleep