Last year, the 883's were standard and included in the kit, but the 884's were available and legal.
The 883 has a lower output limit of 10%, meaning that you can apply either 0% (in the dead band), or something between ±10% and ±100% to the motor. They noted that since most robots wouldn't move with less than 10% power, it wouldn't matter anyway.
When the 884 was introduced, they quoted a lower limit of 3%, meaning that any value between ±3% and ±100% was now possible. They rationalized that robot arms and other apparatus might require that extra degree of control, and that the 884 would provide it.
Quote:
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The 2003 FIRST Kit of Parts will contain the improved Victor 884s. The Victor 883 has been discontinued.
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(from the Innovation First website,
Victor 884 page )
According to the published statistics in the Innovation First literature (from last year), the 883's were to be connected to 30 A circuit breakers (the self-resetting blade fuse ones). The 883's maximum reccomended current (for continuous use) was listed at
40 A, like the 884, and it looks like they were, electrically speaking, capable of much higher loads for very brief periods.
Quote:
Current, Low Throttle FET Thermal Limit 105 A
Current, Full Throttle FET Thermal Limit 420 A
Current, Continuous Electrical Limit 348 A
Current, Pulse <300 uS 1200 A
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-Tristan Lall