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Unread 26-11-2012, 15:46
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Jon Stratis Jon Stratis is offline
Mentor, LRI, MN RPC
FRC #2177 (The Robettes)
Team Role: Mentor
 
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Rookie Year: 2006
Location: Minnesota
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Re: [HELP] Digital Sidecar troubles

A few thoughts that might help diagnose the issue:

- unplug the DSC and hold a multimeter up to the plug. Read the voltage when the robot is both enabled and disabled. Please make sure you do so safely! This should mimic the battery voltage, so it won't hold steady at 12V.

- Even if you don't have a short, you could have an open circuit. I saw a team at an off season competition a month or two ago that used 22 gauge from the PDB to the DSC, and managed to burn it out completely - broken wire, burned/melted insulation... it was ugly. With a broken wire, you could see intermittent operation.

- Remove all the breakers from the PDB except those required for the DSC and the analog breakout board. Do you still hear that whine? Do you still see the incorrect behavior on the DSC? If not go through replacing the breakers one at a time - at some point you'll start encountering your issues again, but this may give you a different place to look.

- Are there any red LED's on beneath any of ports on the DSC? Those are there to tell you if there is an issue (a short) with that port!
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