Power to cRIO
 

Hi,

We are having trouble getting power to our cRIO, we have it so the power goes to the power distribution board, but the power doesn't get to the connector that you use to power up the cRIO. We have used a multi-meter, so we know that the only spot where we aren't getting power is at the connectors at the end of the board where the battery does NOT connect to. Are we missing something??? We have looked at the documentation, but there we can't find the answer to our problem. Any help?

Re: Power to cRIO
 

Are you testing the port on the board, or are you testing your wire that connects there?

Re: Power to cRIO
 

make sure you have it connected to the 24v output... its next to the LED that says 24v by it, and has a total of 4 holes in it. You will use a snap in connecter with little screws that clamp into the side. The 2 inside holes dont get connected. Just the outside ones. One side should say "c" and that in the black (negative) wire. the other side should say "v" and thats where you connect the red (positive) wire. Hopefully this helps. PM me if you want more help with electrical.

Re: Power to cRIO
 

I was wondering about that wiring as well. This years power distribution diagram shows that the wires go in the out side holes, but our 2009 robot was wired with the wires side by side, but i don't remember what side .

Re: Power to cRIO
 

I believe that you can wire it side by side... i dont reccomend it, for the sake of being safe with a $750 piece, but i dont see a problem with it... if you look at the connector, its has a "c" "(?)" "c" "v"... both c's are bridged to each other according to the drawing, so you should be able to plug the negative into either c and it shouldnt make a difference. But just to be safe i would go with the proven answer that i said earlier. But the Positive should only go in the "v" port

Re: Power to cRIO
 

also, the Power disribution diagram last year had the outsides also, thats where i had learned it from last year. It may have just been a student who wanted to get a little "creative" ;)

Re: Power to cRIO
 

Ok, thanks. I will rewire it tomorrow.

Re: Power to cRIO
 

We figured out the problem, we were looking for the multi-meter to tell us that all the electrical connections we needed were there. We ended up trying it (without the cRIo plugged in) and found that once the power was on, everything we needed was connected electrically. We plugged in the cRIO and everything was OK. We are flashing the cRIO now. :D

Thanks for all your help!!!

Re: Power to cRIO
 

Phoenix,
This was a problem last year that teams eventually figured out. The main battery voltage can fall pretty low when not charged. The 24 volt supply and the other supplies on the Power Distribution board do stop working with low voltage. Knowing that your batteries are fully charged when you use them helps. The supplies stop working at less than five volts on the battery. Most teams use the Andy Mark plug flags in the KOP parts to indicate charged. So when your battery comes off the charger, insert the flag. Everyone will get to know that a flag means good and no flag means put it on the charger.