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Unread 27-01-2011, 09:58
EricVanWyk EricVanWyk is offline
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Re: Voltage regulators

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fletch1373 View Post
I noticed something last year that I found somewhat odd. It appeared that the PWM connections on the Digital Sidecar never output 5V, only 6V and only with the jumper in place. I know the old IFI controllers had 5V pins everywhere.

It's definitely possible that we had a broken sidecar, but it's also possible that FIRST made a change for some reason.
Nope, your DSC is operating as intended.

The reason for the jumper is that some hobby speed controllers push voltage on that pin. This is commonly found in RC cars / planes. This would be a problem for our purposes, as they may end up fighting and/or backpowering that rail. So, a simple jumper pulls that circuit out of the equation.

It just so happens that the Victor and the Jaguar don't do this, so the jumper was just a nuisance in the past, but it lets us be forward compatible for whenever the GDC allows more leeway in motor controller selection.