[Bduggan04]

From experience, problems can often be fixed by fixing seemingly unrelated problems. I would advise that you try the following. It is what I would do if I was there.

Set a multimeter to Ohms

Put one probe on the frame. Use the other probe to check other spots on the robot such as the terminals of speed controllers. They should be isolated, but I suspect they are not.

You should also try removing all of the motors from the output side of the speed controllers and make sure the terminals are not touching the robot. The problem lies on the output side of the victors. This has to be true due to the fact it only happens when you run the motors on one side.

If the problem no longer occurs, connect the motors one by one and look for the problem. You may be able to isolate it.


Another thing you may want to consider is that you could have mixed the motor wires up. The fuses could be blowing because the motors are running in opposite directions in the same gear box.

To test this, remove all of the motor wires but the ones going to one motor. Run it and see which direction the wheels move. Then, disconnect it and run a different motor similarly, if they run the same direction, attach both motors to their speed controllers. Do this for both gear boxes. If one motor in a given gear box runs in a different direction than the other, reverse the polarity or revise the program.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that the victors can be powered through the output side. If you push the robot on the ground, the controller and the victors will all light up because the motors act as generators.