Quote:
Originally Posted by techhelpbb
The fact is there is obviously more than one thing not quite right with the radios and the systems that power them.
A loose connector on the D-Link is a power quality issue. Why are we intent on saying that doesn't happen when in point of fact even Al notes it often does?
We do have a field but we certainly don't have the competition field parts.
Championships are over and obviously these issues remain. So what have we solved? How does the situation today differ from the situation at the start of March?
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Brian,
We still seem to have a communication issue so I will repeat in as clear a series of sentences as I can.
There is no "obvious" power problem with the radios. There are issues that teams should be aware of that compromise the power delivered to a radio used on an FRC robot. Namely, the power connector can become noisey or intermittent due to
team handling. There are rare occasions where the 5 volt regulator is defective, again in most cases due to team handling. And on still rarer occasions (less than ten that I know of in the whole time we have used the PD) the PD power supply may not function correctly. With the 3500 teams, 60+ events, hundreds of matches, thousands of practice runs at both events and home fields, these radios have worked as intended, powered as designed. I personally witnessed failures over this past weekend that were
not radio related even though many observers may think so. They were attributable to faults on the robot either in software or hardware that while intermittent were eventually corrected.
We have a good and cost effective competition system that works. There are occasional issues that are as yet unexplained but the FIRST staff is working hard on solutions. They are as committed as I am to insure everyone has the ability to run when they are scheduled to play. Again, there is no indication these issues had anything related to power on the robot radio.
You can continue to look at your own robot and spend your time chasing a power issue that you believe is the only problem that exists. I am convinced (more now that I observed from the scorer's table thousands of matches) that radio power is not the panacea that you believe it is. While I do not wish to stifle teams who are trying to expand our understanding I am firmly committed to preventing misleading lines of thought so that teams will keep their minds open to other possible failure modes.