Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHolyHades1
Thanks for the detailed comparison. One question though; I was under the impression that the shifters can switch while moving (i.e. at the top speed of low gear)? You've said that it can be done while stopped or moving slowly; does this mean that you can't shift at speed?
|
Sorry, I should have been more clear, as far as I know all shifters can shift at speed, the benefit of the ball shifters that we found is that (in our experience) they can almost always shift while stopped in addition to at speed (think of it as a bonus feature).
This is a result of the difference between a ball shifter and a dog-gear based shifter, a "dog" must be lined up exactly with the holes in the gear in order to shift (and in the case of AM shifters, there isn't a lot of slack in the fit). By comparison, a ball shifter can "roll" into the notches in the ball gears much more easily and at a larger variety of angles relative to the gear, this allows for the shifter to work except in the rare occasion the ball lands on the "flat" between the notches.
Now, in most situations, you wouldn't notice the difference, especially when using pneumatics for shifting, since as soon as you accelerate from stop, the gears will usually engage in less than a second. It can, however, make a difference if for some reason you have an autonomous mode that includes a gear shift in it, especially prior to movement, since if one of the shifters has a longer shift delay than the other it can cause inconsistency in the autonomous.