Quote:
Originally Posted by Poseidon1671
CAN is definitely more complicated than PWM, which is extremely simple. With PWM you just give it a -1.0 - 1.0 value. With CAN you can configure it to take speed commands (RPM), distance commands (Rotations), Percentages (-1.0 - 1.0), and others. If you use PWM though, I think you CAN (pun intended) get those functionalities, but with a little more work.
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To be fair, most of those complications you mention are completely optional. The only mandatory complication with CAN is that you initially have to assign a unique address to each Talon, PDP, and PCM on the CAN bus. And you have to assign the correct ID to any Talon you have to replace for some reason. Now that all the the assignment happens on the roboRIO webpage, I think it's only a little more complicated than wiring up a dozen PWMs to the correct ports.
I'll readily admit the using CAN before this year was rather more complicated, since you needed to make up the correct RJ11 cables, terminate the bus correctly, make up a (correct) serial-RJ11 adapter, and (shudder) deal with BDC Comm for assigning IDs and testing. Definitely more complicated last year.