Quote:
Originally Posted by MattRain
I know AZ is using it, as we ran the first qualifier at our school this year.
We have both the surge protector and the choke on both of our robots. We have followed all of the items from the wiring guide as well, with insolated electronics on the robot, the only place we see a shock is when it comes to the tetrix encoders. We can watch it shock and re-start the last case/step in the autonomous programming. We were wondering if any other teams have seen a problem like this...
I hope FTC will go back to using wooden elements. These metal elements are just a pain. This is really the first year that we have had a problem with static discharge.
Do you guys know where exactly it says that you cant have the wire dragging, just for my reference when my other mentors ask?
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If I understand correctly, your symtoms are different from any I have observed when working with Tetrix robots. That said, would you be able to post any pictures of the affected encoders. Also, when this occurs, I assume you are moving forward using the encoders to measure distance. Does it behave as if the encoders were suddently reset to 0, and it therefore needs to move the whole distance again? I have noticed that the Tetrix motor controllers are relatively sensative to ESD, although in my experience, the whole controller tends to lock up, rather than the encoder counter simply reseting. I assume that the ESD passes through the encoder cable, into the motor controller, and causes the motor controller to reset itself. Due to the way the motor controller is designed, the controller keeps the count since the last reset, and then the NXT just reads that. Therefore, if it resets in the middle of the action, the encoder is set to 0. If there is a pause, it is probably because the controller needs to intitialize and recieve the command to set the motor power from the NXT.