reverse-voltage protection
 

I was thinking about how to implement reverse-voltage protection on a Jaguar or Victor, and I realized that all the polarity sensitive components, with the exception of the electrolytic capacitor, are powered by the 5v or 3.3v regulators.
Couldn't we just put a diode on the supply side of both of those, and thus prevent the motor controller from turning on when voltage is reversed?
(The capacitor, though it would blow hot oil all over everything, can be replaced)

On a similar note, how is providing power to the wrong side different than normal operation? It's still the same to the h-bridge. Why does the motor controller even turn on, if the motor is stopped? The source and drain on a MOSFET can be flipped without issues, correct?

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

Reverse voltage protection is very simple conceptually, but gets very expensive when you have high operational power. There are two main types: shunt and series.
A shunt needs to be able to safely shunt many times the operational power for long enough for the breakers to blow. Usually this is a diode or a diode-like device.
A series method needs to be able to conduct the operational power continuously. For an example of a series method, take a look at the schematics for the DSC or Solenoid Breakout.

Still need to protect the bridge, per your next statement...

All MOSFETs (that have 3 terminals) have an internal body diode between source and drain. Reversing polarity allows current to flow through the diode and pop the FET.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

Oh, I was thinking MOSFETs were more like JFETs. That's too bad.
That means in order to have a controller that wouldn't care which side you hooked up the power, you'd need to use JFETs and pre-amplify the signal from the H-bridge drivers. (Supplying power to all this would require a bridge rectifier on both sides)
That's a pain.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

The drawback to series protection diodes is their voltage drop - nominally 0.7 volts. That drop hurts your motor power, gets turned into heat, and (as Eric said) needs a device that can handle at least 40 Amps, which isn't all that inexpensive (compared to the cost of a Jaguar, at least).

It certainly can be done, or we just train the operator to not reverse polarity.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

Using a shunt does seem to be the easiest method. The trouble with that is those auto-resetting breakers. (You want this to trip fast, not take two seconds)
So, this would require an inline fuse with tight trip characteristics.

Considering that the PWM drivers seem to be the most sensitive, I would still put a diode in front of the 3.3v and 5v voltage regulators.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

As mentioned the problem with a diode is the voltage drop and heat generated with it. The current handled by the diode would have to be much greater than 40 amps. In fact it would have to handle a direct short. Many automotive motor drivers use a Fet to provide reverse battery protection. This can be done several Ways.The advantage of a power FET is the low on resistance and less power loss. A PNP Power FET could be used on the high side with the gate tied to ground with a resistor and diode. The problem with a PNP power FET is that they are not available with large current handling and low on resistance. If PNP FETS could be made with the same robust characteristics as NPN FETS they would be used in the motor drive h bridge. Multiple PNP's could be used but, that takes space and adds cost. A NPN FET can be placed on the low side with the gate tied to the V+ with the resistor and diode. The problem with low side protection is that it messes with the ground. Electronics do not like it when the ground has transience on it. A NPN power FET can be used on the high side. The problem is that the gate drive voltage has to be above V+. This requires a voltage boosting circuit adding cost and board space. ST micro makes a bridge driver chip with this circuit on the chip. The other way the jag could be some what protected from reverse polarity and swapping the V+ and motor leads would be to use polarized connectors with a different type for the V+ and Motor. Then the risk of zapping a jag would be limited to when the cables are made up. The PD would also have to have polarized connections. As long as the power connections remain as they are now, every year there will be x number of fried controllers every year. Our team has fried a few.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

You said electronics don't like it when their ground is floating? Does it still matter when their V+ is floating as well?
I'm assuming you're just referring to the small electronics, not the power MOSFETs.

I would be perfectly fine with a keyed connector, such as 45-amp Anderson Powerpole.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

The Jag has a micro controller, bridge driver chip, CAN driver and voltage regulator that all must have good stable grounds. In addition the micro is making A to D conversions to manage current measurements. The jag is driving a large inductance motor. There are going to be large switching transience floating around. The designer has to manage these. Adding Low side reverse battery protection adds allot of problems to the design. High side is much easier from the ground perspective. Managing the voltage boost and FET power dissipation are the trade off.
The Anderson connectors are big and adding them to the jag which is all ready big would not be ideal. There are smaller connectors that could be used like the RC Dean's connectors. The problem is they could see up to 160 amps. Beyond there rating. Is it really required to have true continuous ratings for our use?
On this subject, would it be acceptable to loose thousands of dollars in electronic modules in a car because a mechanic accidentally reversed battery connections even for a fraction of a second. Can a automotive mechanic reverse polarity by plugging in a new module wrong? If one could the bean counters would be string up the engineers for the warranty claims. Now would this be acceptable in aerospace or a nuclear power plant? Why is it acceptable for our robots.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

Marshall,
I would be willing to bet that the majority of dead controllers due to wiring errors are for the input and output to be reversed. Remember that the HEX power FETs that are used have a diode across the source drain leads that is a fall out of the manufacturing process. The series diode would still need to handle 129 amps, the stall current of the current CIM motors. Schottky diodes have a lower forward voltage drop but are too expensive and large to be included in the controller design. We use the smaller Anderson connectors for all/most of our motor connections. The 45 amp version handles the CIM motors just fine. There is not enough heating in a two minute match to damage these connectors provided that the correct crimper is used to terminate the wire.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

This involves a few more components, but will get the job done.

NOTE: NOT FRC LEGAL!

You could always add in a simple diode and a relay capable of handling 40A continuous.

Wire the relay to only activate when the right polarity is given. The relay closes the contact to the Jaguar and will then allow the Jaguar to operate.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

From personal experience, I've only wired up power to the wrong side once. That happened to be a Victor. Interestingly, the MOSFETs were the only damaged parts. (They didn't blow until I put significant current through them by actually trying to run the motor) I've replaced those with MOSFETs from Jaguar's I've fried, and it seems to work fine now.

We do use pigtails with mini-anderson connectors on them. On the output side, we actually use a different color (white and green), where as we use red and black on the supply side.
Most of the errors come from cheesed-together systems that haven't been thoroughly checked. I have a small 6 Amp-Hour battery that has a tendency to get reversed (either at the Anderson Powerpole or the push-ons to the battery terminals).
To date, I have 3 Jaguars I use for physical mock-ups. They've all been fried by reversed voltage (either by me or by somebody else on the team).

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

A cheap fix for this is to use a sharpie when the Jag or Victor come out of the box and mark input and output with a large, unmistakable "+" sign and "IN" and "OUT".

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

The problem isn't always with the wiring to the jaguar itself. This year, one of our batteries was wired backwards. We only found out when we connected it to the robot and turned it on. Reverse voltage protection would have saved at least 2 of our jaguars in this instance.

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

I think what people are getting at is that the additional cost, in either performance loss or actual costs, is not worth it. The sum of that additional cost is probably substantially more than the value of the speed controllers damaged. I've been doing this for a while, and I can't recall killing a single speed controller due to reverse wiring. I understand it can be a catastrophic error, especially with a backwards battery, but it's just not a problem worth rectifying

Re: reverse-voltage protection
 

Very Punny ;)