Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Hi,
Our victor lights are flashing orange. We have changed the victors and the PWM cables and ensured that everything is wired properly. We were thinking that maybe there was something wrong with the sidecar or the program (labview) that caused the victors to flash orange. The robot was running fine a couple of weeks ago, but we rewired everything, and now it won't run.

What colors should the lights be when running properly?
Can we test to see if there is something wrong with the sidecar?
Is there anything we should be watching for when programming in labview regarding the victors?
Is there any reason, other then no PWM signal, for the light to be flashing orange?

Thanks

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

According to the datasheets for both the Victor 888 and Victor 884, the Orange flashing LED represents no PWM, and only no PWM. You should check the direction of the PWM and the slot it is plugged into as well as which slot the code wants it plugged into. Also, you should make sure that the sidecar is fully functional with the power LEDs all green, and make sure that the ribbon cable is fully inserted on both ends.
Edit: From the datasheet:
LED Indicator Status
• Green = Full Forward
• Orange = Neutral/Brake
• Red = Full Reverse
• Flashing Orange = no PWM

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Hi,
We have checked and everything seems to be in place. When we calibrate the controls they flash green for 2 seconds, then go back to flashing orange. I don't know if that means anything, but I was thinking that meant that there was nothing wrong with the wiring.

Also we got our robot to move by disabling the safety config in the program for the motor controls, However; I don't think that's the right answer.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

That tells me the problem is in the code somewhere. Are you using LabVIEW? Are you periodically setting the motor value (i.e. every 100 ms or so)?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

It seems like your program isn't updating the motor values when it's at zero. If you are able to calibrate but than it goes back to flashing orange that probably means motorsafety is killing the outputs for some reason.

If you only update the motor values if the joystick value changes, that might result in this type of problem.

Are you establishing all of them as Victors and not as Jaguars in code?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

We are using labview. I don't now if we are setting the motor values, how would you check that?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

If the problem is with updating motor values, what needs to be changed in the program?

They are established as victors.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Hi Tina,

If I recall you are the rookie team that we helped get going at the 610 quick build?

If that's the case my email to you should help. At the present, I really think that either the PWM cable(s) have been unplugged and or you have not enabled the robot.

I hope the email helps.

BTW.
This is a wonderful place to get help, Chief Delphi that is.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Hi,

We did receive the email, and checked all of the components you stated but the light is still flashing so we are inclined to believe its a programming error. We even had a mechanic and an electrician look at our robot and neither of them could see an error in the wiring.

Do you know of anything we should look for in the program

Thanks

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Can you post screen-shots of your Begin.vi Teleop.vi and Finish.vi?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Everything A lot of what you describe is consistent with an improper PWM cable connection. It takes practice to be able to insert a PWM connector into a Victor properly every time. Unplug one and inspect the pins. They should be perfectly straight. If any are bent, it's likely that it wasn't making proper contact.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Is the dashboard installed, operating and enabled?

LEDs will flash orange until the robot is enabled ... right?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

We have been using the basic code, except in the begin VI we changed the safety config to disabled and the Jaguar to a Victor.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

It is Flashing orange unless the robot is moving, then there is no color.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Now that sounds like a Victor calibration/joystick centering issue.

The orange flickering light might mean that neutral on the joystick is right at the edge of the Victor's neutral dead zone.
That's not a dangerous condition, just annoying.

With the robot up on blocks can you push the joystick to it's extreme's and see the Victor status light turn green in one direction and red in the opposite direction?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

So how do we fix that?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Does the code deploy without errors?

Can you Enable the robot from the Driver Station?

A screen shot of the Enabled Driver Station will help us solve your problem. Example, either take a digital picture or in Windows use the print screen function and then paste the clipboard into Word and attach the result here.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

The Calibration instructions are on page 2 of the Victor 888 User Manual

But are the motors still not running even though the Victors are going from flickering orange to off when you try?
Or is the robot moving, but you just have a flickering orange status light when it's supposed to be at rest?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

We didn't see any change in color when we pushed the joystick, there was no colors.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

The motors do not move when the safety config in the program is enabled. When it is disabled the robot moves. The light flashes orange at all times unless the robot is moving, then no light is displayed.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

The motor Safety is because something is slowing down the cRIO program or the communication packets.
You can run without the Safety if your controls remain responsive. If however you are experiencing any lag, then it becomes a higher priority to track down the cause for the slow down.

The flickering orange/no lights pretty much describe a calibration issue.

On the Dashboard there is a display with a green dot showing one of the joysticks movements. Does that green dot go all the way up or down when you push the joystick all the way forward/back?

And is the green dot centered when the joystick is at neutral?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Attachment 13809Here is a document with a picture of the vis.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Is there a reason you didn't just attach the pictures directly? Embedding them in a Word document requires extra steps on both your end and ours in order for us to see them, and it messes with the aspect ratio and size, making it hard to view them as they were originally captured.

With the exception of disabling the Drive motor safety, it looks like a standard Arcade default robot project. Did you make any changes that aren't shown, perhaps in Periodic Tasks?

Are there any messages on the Drive Station diagnostics display?

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Alan that was my fault as I asked them to paste it into a Word doc. What would be the better way? Thanks

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

Just a side note since we don't know if the software is working correctly, performing a calibration to the joystick may, I'll say that again may make the problem worse.

I would really try resetting the Victors back to the factory default and then see what happens assuming the Victors will respond to the default function as indicated in User manual.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

We had a similar problem with two Victors 884,s. They had been used on a practice bot this summer and worked OK. We tried multiple PWM cables driven by a cRIO, VEX and servo tester. In all cases we could substitute a servo for the Victor and it worked OK so we knew the signal was OK to the connector.

We removed the Victors and dissected each one. In both cases we found the problem was the PWM connector on the Victor. We also found a foreign substance on the contact blades. It looked like a glue or conformal coating.
To test we cleaned the three contact blades and attached the wires form a PWM cable. In both cases the controller came back to life.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

That concern is very easily handled.

Download the default code and calibrate with that.
The same goes for testing the factory default. It should be tested with default code.

P.S. - to the students-
As a general rule troubleshoot one thing at a time.
Start from a known good position and advance into the problem step by step.
The default code and example code are known good starting points. The factory code defaults if you will.
Verify that the wiring is correct and responds properly to the default or example code before suspecting a code problem.
You immediately cut the list of possible problems in half - software vs hardware.
If your code worked and several things then changed and the robot no longer works, then reverse your changes to get back to a working state and re-introduce the suspect changes one-at-a-time, testing at each step.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

I couldn't figure out how to embed the pictures. But no other changes have been made.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

We tried using a new victor, that had never been uses before to see if that was the problem. But it's light started flashing as well.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

I really think you guys should go right bad to square one and start with the default labview code. Double check all the wiring paying special attention to the PWM cables and try it again. Please let us know what happens as all of here really want to see the new teams have something of a working bot.

Please tell us what the 'RSL' LED on the digital sidecar does and any errors or things that just don't seem correct.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

After a number of emails with the team I have now found that they have the basic drive back up and running again. The only problem is I don't know what was causing the problem in the first place so we haven't learned anything. At least the system is running again and they can move forward :)


Thanks to all for the good ideas for them to try.

Re: Victor motor contorls flashing orange
 

We've been having issues with out Victor 888s as well. After some research we found out that if you shave down the sides of the shroud of the PWM cables they will fit into the holes of the Victors. Our pins were not connecting to the inputs in the victor because the shroud is too big. Vex says that if you are having issues with the Victors than to shave down the sides of your PWM cables. Hope this helps, good luck!