Chief Delphi - How to fix a problem spike

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- - How to fix a problem spike (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113790)

Re: How to fix a problem spike

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwakeman (Post 1236430)

I believe I found a bad spike last night while trying to get our compressor running. The behavior i saw from the spike is similar to what the original post described. Here is what my experience was:

1. Using 20 Amp snap breaker in the spike. Using the Compressor class in WPILib. Before the robot was enabled, solid orange LED on the spike. Once the robot was enabled the Compressor code would turn on the relay on the DSC (confirmed, little green light lit up as expected) that the spike was connected to. This resulted in the LED on the spike turning off (no color).

2. Removed the compressor leads from the output side of the spike. No change. Spike LED still off.

3. Removed the pwm cable from the spike. LED turn RED. Measured -10V on the output of the spike.

Replaced the spike. All worked fine. I did notice the pins on the pwm were pretty mangled when i removed it from the spike the first time (step 3 above) and it is possible not all three pins were seated correctly and this may have had something to do with the failure of the spike.

Could it have something to do with the way the PWM cable was seated in the Spike? I haven't opened one up for a couple of years, but if the pins find their way to contacting control components that they shouldn't, it possible to fry something with an unexpected 5V signal...

Re: How to fix a problem spike

I'll post here as it seems as fitting as anywhere...

Team 4327 had similar problems with a spike relay connected to our compressor. First, the symptoms:

-Spike relay (new) will work initially. This lasts for about two matches. Using 14 awg wire. Code operates such that whenever teleop is enabled, the compressor is to run until reaching 120 psi (I think this is standard, but this is our first year with pneumatics and therefore I am no expert in this field)
- After about two matches, the compressor does not turn on when teleop is enabled. The light on the spike relay is OFF. When the PWM cable is removed, the light is RED. :confused:

Now, the fixes we attempted...
-Fuse is not blown. Replaced with the circuit breaker usually used on the power distribution board.
-Checked the PWM cable. Moved to another spike relay on the robot (indexing wheel) which then runs constantly (as programmed thinking it is the compressor).
-12V received and 11V coming out when the PWM is not plugged in. Cannot remember if/what/how much when PWM is inserted.

We went through 3 spike relays :ahh: at the Gull Lake event scratching our heads over this business. We would like to know a way to test if our old spikes went bad or if we're just plain dumb about something.

Any help/advice from you wise ones would be appreciated. Thanks ahead of time! :)