Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

That could be explained if you've gotten confused about which Victor is connected to which motor. Pull all the circuit breakers, then put them back in one at a time and see which motors actually respond -- and in which direction. If my theory is correct, you'll be very surprised when you think you're telling the right side to move but the left side gear train runs.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

When we tried to run the right side as you say (I don't remember which side, but it was only one side) the correct side ran at first exactly as expected, but it was a third victor that was lighting up and trying to go that was causing problems.

We were testing the breaker panel becuase we think that that might be the problem. All of the positive outs on the panel were contenius with each other and the battery in. We tested the battery in and an out that was with a fuse and got 0 ohms. We then tested the battery in an an out that wasn't with fuse and got 500 Kilohoms. From testing older panels, I think that we should be getting infinate resistance because the breaker should be completing a circuit. If I am wrong, Please post fast because we don't want to have to buy a new panel. That would suck :(

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

If you are measuring resistance from each output of the breaker panel to battery common, 500k should be OK, 500 is not so be sure what you measure. If you leave all of the breakers in you will ready continuity from the output of each breaker to any other output. If you measure with all of the breakers removed they should be 500K or more. You should then go back and measure the outputs of all the speed controllers (both motor+ and -) to battery common and to the frame. There should be a high resistance to battery common for all terminals. When you measure all controllers outputs to frame they should be infinite.
The continuity test on a Fluke meter (the beep mode) should be sufficient for tests. If it beeps for any test that should be an open, you have a problem. A constant tone indicates a short, a single tone indicates a solid state junction af at least 0.3 volt drop, no tone indicates a resistance that results in a voltage drop greater than about 1.5 volts. What is really cool is the reading on the Fluke in "Diode test" is in voltage dropped across the device you are testing.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

If the breakers are pulled, you'll still be getting a little bit of circuit sneakage through the Victors themselves. Measuring from one point on the breaker panel will tell you the resistance through the first Victor to ground and then back from ground through the second Victor. A measured resistance of 500k wouldn't surprise me.

Have you pulled all the CIM fuses and put them back in one at a time yet? So far, your descriptions still seem consistent with having one of the left-side pwms controlling a right-side motor, and vice versa.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

We're not quite sure if it is 5000 ohms or 500k ohms. We have old multimeters. They do have a contenutiy test but it doesn't display units. They panel was removed and separated from everything and we were still getting odd numbers. The contenutiy test didn't beep (it beeps if there is a connection but not at every level) I wish we could test it better. When we checked with the regualar ohm meter setting, we were getting bouncing numbers between .05 and 10 in the 200K setting. How this works, I don't know. if 500k is OK, then I don't know what is wrong, we checked everything yet again for shorts. The only thing that seems to be wrong is the panel.

I already said this on This thread, but it bears repeating. We compared the panel to someone elses that works and found the same numbers. We arn't going to replace the panel yet, but that puts us back at square one.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

Bryan,
Where are you located? Are you going to be in front of the robot tonight? If yes, PM me and let's see if we can set something up.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

If for some reason Al cant help you out tonight, it seems your team is just outside of the Richmond, Va area. I would suggest contacting one of the close to 15 teams in Richmond or the other team in Highland Springs, Va to see if they can help you prior to ordering a new Breaker Panel.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

We don't know what happened, but we looked inside the panel to see what was up and saw nothing. Our neighboring team let us check their panel and there was the same numbers. We put our panel back on and the robot worked. I wish I knew what happened to fix it. But I am glad that we didn't have to buy another one.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

as you could tell from above comments it will cause problems. Metal shavings got into out victors and blew two out. i will say that from your pictures, you guys did a very neat job of wiring components.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

We took care to prevent metal shavings and the like, then took off the fans and used an air hose to blow them out for good measure. All of that before we turned them on for the first time on the robot (they were on but not attached to something for testing purposes earlier, but no metal near them).

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

That is good news. But Murphy's Law says this problem will come back and bite you if you don't get it figured out. Make sure you find the original problem so you know what the cause and fix will be in the future.

Re: Could a magnetic field around CIMs cause fuses to blow?
 

Thank everyone for all of their help on this matter... After going back and re-rechecking everything again, and making sure there were no shorts, and the frame is not grounded, and just throwing the (mabye) defective breaker panel back onto the bot, it performed wonderfully. We are hoping that the problem originated in the breaker panel (we ordred one yesterday on overnight shipping for $130) and when the ghost comes back, we will be ready...
Thanks again for everyone's help
Team 617