Thread: Current reading of motor controllers
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Unread 19-12-2013, 13:45
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Re: Current reading of motor controllers
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Hill View Post
If you use Jaguars, I believe you should be able to read current draw if run in a CAN configuration.
We have been very successful using the bcd-comm software on a laptop to drive all the motors connected to Jaguars using a single RS232 connector on a laptop. It reports motor voltage and current for debug and if there is an encoder connected to the Jaguar, it also reports RPM. All good diagnostics for initial robot bringup, even if you use PWM instead of CAN on the production robot. No additional hardware or software to buy. We also have used cRIO code to read dynamic currents and diagnose brown-outs at regionals.

I know lots of teams don't like Jaguars, and there are lots of valid reasons not to, but it does provide some very nice features. I am disappointed that the CAN version of the Talon does not appear to be available for 2014. We are looking forward for a more robust CAN based speed controller in 2015.