Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

Had a minor issue in our e-commerce system, the page is back now.

http://www.vexrobotics.com/products/.../217-0220.html

Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

Here is a link to the VEXPro product page: http://www.vexrobotics.com/products/vexpro

The Spike is right underneath the Victor. It is out of stock because FIRST is the only customer (and FIRST teams) so they will be back in stock in time for the FRC season.

Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

I promise, it wasn't there yesterday. Someone must have noticed the omission and fixed it.

Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

Yup wasn't there when I looked yesterday. I even did a search for it and the only thing that came up was the fuse for the spike.

Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

Nope - it was known going into the Beta test that these items would not be used in the 2012 season. FIRST was putting them out there for testing regardless so they could get feedback and improve them before they (if they) are made available and legal.

We tested the new relay this past year and loved the form factor and the fact that you have a ground on the output side (in addition to fwd/rev) to give you more options for wiring your loads. The SPIKEs have always been pretty nice but they are a bit bulky and the outer shell always seems to split top from bottom for us (hot glue is pretty much a given here). If the new ones are made legal it will be nice to have a more compact option (this year our bot was so small we found ourselves having to make artificial surfaces to mount electrical components!); price, reliability (yet to be seen for the new module!), and the need for compact form factor will lead us to which we'll use in the future if both become legal. Both seem to be good options.

Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

Are they solid state? Any specs on frequency you can switch them at?

Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

The specs we received during beta did not indicate max switching frequency. I also do not see anything in the documentation that specifies them as solid state; I don't recall if they were at all "clicky" but I do remember thinking "these things switch more quietly than a SPIKE".

Re: Where have the Spikes gone
 

I also remember them being quieter than the traditional spike, but I could definitely feel the clicks when running it. As far as frequency, we were using the dual relay to switch lights on/off, and it was fine at 20ms. However, those were LED's, not motors.