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Unread 17-01-2008, 08:19
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Al Skierkiewicz Al Skierkiewicz is offline
Broadcast Eng/Chief Robot Inspector
AKA: Big Al WFFA 2005
FRC #0111 (WildStang)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Rookie Year: 1996
Location: Wheeling, IL
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Re: Reversing motors electrically?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jtd07 View Post
is it possible to have a single motor got both forward and reverse without manually reversing wires to terminal?? this question is in relation to having 4 mecanum wheels and having a single motor on the front right and back left to achieve "staffing" and ideas???
As Joe has pointed out, the Victor speed controllers actually make the polarity change for you. The basis of their design is an "H" bridge motor controller. In addition to speed and direction control, the "H" bridge also allows a shorting function which will dynamically brake the motor by using it as a genrator. This function is selected on a jumper on the controller. It is marked BC and is next to the PWM connector. This can be wired to a digital output on the RC and that would allow software control of the braking function for different conditions.
If you use the default code and find that one or more motors are running in a direction opposite of what you need, then it is acceptable to the reverse the motor leads at the output side only of the speed controller. Wire color code is meaningless for the wires between the motor and the Victor since the polarity changes.
The dashboard port on the OI is a method of looking at the data sent between the OI and the RC. There are various programs available for interpreting the data but the dashboard port is not needed for normal operation. Most teams will never connect anything to it.
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Good Luck All. Learn something new, everyday!
Al
WB9UVJ
www.wildstang.org
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Storming the Tower since 1996.