Question about Victors

[Mike Hendricks]

Being our first year as a team .. we're kinda still learning the ropes.

I've been put in charge of spare parts, and I'm wondering what the chances of a victor failing are? We're using 5 of them .. and all of our critical motors use the victors. What are the chances of them failing? We're going to have one spare .. just in case .. but should we get a few more?

Thanks

[rswsmay]

Well.. last year was our rookie year and we had some problems with everything. From drill motors (went through 2 of them) to speed controllers (went through 2 of them also). I believe that our problem was not having qualified people familiar with the wiring working on it. The speed controllers should have been reliable, but I believe some people ended up shorting out wires, or mixing up PWM cables.

Long story short, when using 5 Victors as a rookie team, I would play it safe with 2 spares unless your budget can't afford it. Depending on the motors you plan to use, you may want to balance that with spare of those also.

This year I think we will work with one spare.

[Cory]

You dont necessarily need spares. At all FIRST competitions, there will be a spare parts table. They will have extra speed controllers. You will need to leave a credit card # incase you break them, but they will loan you any control system parts.

Cory

[rswsmay]

FIRST does not guarantee that there will be spare parts available. We had to hunt for a drill motor last year and ended up getting one from another team. From my days as a scoutmastet, "be prepared". If you can have a spare, get one. But better to not be put into that position at all by ensuring that all electrical connections are properly done, and that only qualified people work on it.

[velocipenguin]

Our team once blew out two Victors simultaneously due to an error made by an inexperienced person who decided to re-wire the entire robot late at night for no good reason. Suffice it to say that connecting supply leads from a breaker panel to the output terminals of a Victor 883 results in the magic smoke leaking out faster than those present previously thought possible. Since then, we've been very cautious about our speed controller wiring, and haven't had any further problems. If you're using 5 on your robot, though, that increases the odds that you will suffer some sort of catastrophic failure that will necessitate hardware replacement. The spare parts available at FIRST competitions have helped us in the past when we were facing the very real possibility of shoving a non-functional hunk of wires and Lexan onto the field, but it's much nicer to have your own spares on hand.

[Mike Betts]

Being our first year as a team ..

That statement in your preamble indicates that you should have at least one spare (preferably 2).

Your team will undoubtedly be working on your bot in the pits. The chance of aluminum shavings ending up inside the guts of the speed controllers and shorting the FETs is rather high. Been there and done that...

You should bring a small dropcloth to cover the controls (during work) and clean off the controls (after work) with a small vacuum cleaner (most experienced teams will have one you can borrow).

The problem is that, in the heat of the moment, many of these safeguards go out the window...

Go out of your way to make friends with a veteran team as soon as possible at your regional. They will likely have spare parts, tools you never thought you would need and helpful suggestions.

[EIROBOTICS86]

we didnt burn any up during competition but during practicee this year we killed two of them they started smoking