[archiver]

Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 4/2/2000 11:15 AM MST


In Reply to: We Need Help!!!!!!! posted by Travis Covington on 4/2/2000 10:55 AM MST:



Travis,

We saw a problem very similar to what you're describing during our first few qualifying matches in Chicago. What was happening is that the 30A circuit breakers were tripping when placed under a load. We also had problems diagnosing the exact cause and solution for this problem, even after 2 other teams helped us out, but it appears to be related to an excessive side load on the drill transmission due to our beveled gears in our gearbox. When we shifted the drill transmissions into Low, the problem disappeared. So, we have some new gearboxes ready to put in at nationals, that will give us back the speed that we had originally. Hope this helps...

Nate
: Hello everyone!

: Ca regional went well. Alot of teams are really good.
: Look out for teams 330, 60, and 64. Oh and 115 if I
: can get some help with this problem we are having.

: This is the problem. During practice rounds we were
: driving around picking up balls without a hitch.
: Everything worked great. But when we were in our
: second qualifying match the left side of our drivetrain
: just would not work. It would act as though the fuse
: went. After a few seconds it would work again but it
: never worked the whole match, it just got worse. This
: happened the rest of competition and randomly we were
: still ranked 12th.

: So, we replaced everything...speed controller, new
: drill motor, switched the connection on the fuse panel,
: realined the chains, lubed chains, and everything else
: we could think of...even changing the gear ratio. None
: of these things helped at all.

: we found out that it was drawing about 10 to 15 more
: amps than the right side. But after we switched
: everything AGAIN it was the same, it drew the same
: current, until of course we went out on the field where
: it didnt work after about 30 seconds.

: During this whole process we were taking advice from
: practically every enginner from other teams as well as
: a couple of crew people from FIRST. None of them had a
: solution. They had ideas which we tried, but nothing
: worked.

: Strangest of all things...we went outside after we had
: frozen up in our first final match, and it worked with
: no problems. We drove it around for 5 to 10 min.
: Nothing went wrong.

: I am wondering if the control box could be bad. I mean
: something like the competition port. I was also
: wondering if a bad fuse panel could cause this.

: Any ideas??

: Thank you, and look out for us in Fla. (if we fix this
: prob.)

: Travis Covingt