[KevinB]

Originally Posted by tophq

is it necassary to use a speed controller on ALL motors, or can i (legally) use a spike for the window motor?

You may use a Spike for the window motor.

Originally Posted by tophq

2. if i have to use a speed controller, then what (for example) would i do to make a motor used to power a wench as far as coding goes? (ie, if i wanted to use the p2_sw_aux1 to retract the wench, would i say:

if(p2_sw_aux1 == 1)
     {
     pwm05 = 255
     }
else
     {
     pwm05 = 127
     }

This code looks valid, except you are missing semicolons at the end of the "pwm05 = XXX" statements. Also, I'm not sure if this applies to the new controller, but the old controller didn't like PWMs being set to 255 -- we were told to use 254 instead.

Originally Posted by tophq

when we used a speed controller, for some odd reason, the motor would activate and start retracting the wench. when we swapped it out for a spike (and changed the code accordingly), it worked out beautifully..

I'd be willing to bet this was probably caused by some code error that you accidentally remedied when you changed to the Spike. If you posted the exact old and new code, we might be able to better help you.