Jaguars and Victors
 

What is the difference between jaguars and victors? For my robot we are using jaguars for the wheels and victors for the arms but I don't get the difference.

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

features in each controller mainly... victors are nice because they don't have a breaker in them, so they run as long as the power distribution board is giving it juice. you also have to deal with the fan wires. really most teams don't use the features in the jaguars, which pretty much levels them out besides the internal breaker, which is why that's probably on your arm... you draw more current when moving a long arm with a weight on the end than turning wheels...

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

Both Jaguars and Victors provide basic speed control features. The Jaguars have advanced features such as CAN (Controller Area Network) which allows for more advanced control. However, the Victors are lighter and smaller.

Furthermore, the Jaguars have a "feature" that shuts them down for several seconds if too much current is drawn. The Victors do not have this.

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

1. There is no breaker in the Jauguars. There is, however, an overcurrent lockout, where the Jaguars will enter a fault condition (and turn off the connected motor) when the controlled motor pulls too much current for too long.

2. The Victors seem to be more reliable to me.

3. A drive will generally pull a lot more current than an arm:

Most drive systems have a total of 4 CIM motors in a one or two speed transmission. In a single speed, speed and torque are compromised, so when accelerating or pushing, the motors will draw large amounts of current (the CIMs stall at 133 amps). In a two speed it is a little better, although high gear acceleration will still draw huge amounts of current, low gear is usually traction-limited so the point where the wheels slip draws enough current for the breakers not to trip (so, if would be a max continuous power of 40 amps per motor, which is still a lot). An arm has one or two motors working together to drive a much more controlled load. It also usually has counter-balance to help it. A banebots 550 motor pulls 85 amps at stall, and in a properly designed arm, it generally never stalls for a considerable amount of time, because the FP and Banebots motors will smoke when stalled.

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the Jaguars are more linear.

In basic terms, they have much more precise control at low power levels than the Victors.

By the way, we're using Jaguars for drive (for the linearity) and Spikes for everything else (we have no need for any Victors on this robot).

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

and what are the difference between jaguars, victors and Spike?
We used 1 spike for compressor this year... but I don't know what that does either

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

A spike is like a light switch. No speed control. Jaguars and Victors are likened to a dimmer control.

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

Our team had an issue with Jaguars constantly burning out, now 2 of our 6 motor controllers are Victors. We fried about 4 Jaguars this build season alone, and no Victors.

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

i was trying to put it into more simple terms... i know it's not a breaker, i just didn't want to explain all that...

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

Our team and I believe most teams have found that Jaguars have better, smoother control at low speed and power, and more linear overall control. For fine motion control and position holding, we perceive them as better. For general purpose applications where fine low speed control is not needed, they have no particular advantage, and if fact Victors may have advantages (reliability, weight, size, etc.)

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

The first year Jags came out, we jumped on them faster than you could say "better". They worked. The next year, we somehow lost some magic white smoke, via metal shavings and air cutter oil. This year, prit'near all contols are by Vics, except low power things, like gripper and wrist (black Jag) and minibot (Spike).

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

Jaguars do not have an internal breaker they have an over current sense which shuts down the output during a perceived fault. The Jags have a 15kHz switching frequency while the Victors have a 150 Hz switching frequency. This difference allows the output pulse to interact with the motor inductance to produce a smoother but less powerful motor response at low throttle levels. This phenomena while allowing a more controlled movement also produces less motor power for a given throttle value below about 60-75% of full throttle.

The Spike is simply two relays inside one case. They can be commanded in such a way that the output can be full on in either direction or each output pin can be controlled independently.

Re: Jaguars and Victors
 

already discussed...