Broken Connector ..please help
 

Team 1219 has broken the 12 volt main power positive terminal on the robot controller. Can anyone please advise on the repair or replacement of the terminal.

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

I would recommend sending it to IFI for repair. If you want to take your chances and void your warranty, if you have a mentor who is very skilled at circuitboard soldering (small components) you can have them fix it.

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

I agree 100% Send it back and let them fix it. It happened to us in 2005 and they were great fixing it.

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

The board for the RC is a multi-layer PC board. Repairs should only be attempted by experts as there might be damage in places you can't see. Send it back now so it will be back in time for your programming team to get busy.

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

I agree with every one else, IFI is very good about taking care of things like this. Send it back, in the mean time update the Master and User code on the 2006 controller, it will work as a substitute.

-James

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

Guys I am just out of curiosity ok. You know every year the micro-controllers are identical (Except a small stickers on them which says "2007"). What if I were to take that sticker off and put it on 2006 Micro-Controllers? I don't see how anyone can define which micro-controller I am using. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Also, my second question is that if we send it off to IFI its too expensive. However, one of our mentor is an expert at soldering and if he creates a jumper-wire for us than would it be a problem in terms of inspection or rules?

On behalf of team 1219 I would like to thank everyone for helping us. :)

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

Try calling IFI tomorrow. We had a similar issue last year, and they walked us through the repair.

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

Every year the controllers are not Identical, in 2003 they were programmed in basic, 04 and 05 were pic's and were the same, 06 and 07 are pics again but are different(better) than 04 and 05. I don't know if there is any way to tell 06 and 07 apart. I dont think you are allowed to modify the IFI controller at all, I would not risk it, you are much better off spending the money to ship it back to IFI.

Re: Broken Connector ..please help
 

Personally I would send it back b/c the unit is covered by the warranty for at least a year (Not sure how long the warranty actually lasts for) and if you cause more damage to the unit it may end up costing you more headaches then whats it's worth, No offense to the mentors on most if not all the teams but I rather send the unit back and use last years '06 controller in the mean time to work on the programming. Its best to have it done right the first time. I don't think it will cost a thing since IFI is very flexible about fixing / upgrading or even replacing the unit.