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Unread 23-11-2008, 02:12
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Alan Anderson Alan Anderson is offline
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FRC #0045 (TechnoKats)
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Re: New Info on 2009 control system, maybe

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Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik View Post
Ribbon cables work well as the digital sidecar cables. It's possible to use ribbon cables to move the analog breakouts off the top of the cRIO, though they're obviously unshielded and more noise prone.
Using ribbon cables would lower the maximum height of the cRIO. Replacing the provided digital cable with a ribbon cable would save some weight.

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There are currently no provisions to power the Driver Station off the robot, though it's being investigated. I think it's pretty certain there won't be any power over the ethernet tether cable, so any power solution will be a separate cable.
Or you can roll your own simple, unprotected, non-robust pseudo-Power-Over-Ethernet scheme with a pair of breakout adapters at the ends of the ethernet tether. I am definitely planning to do this.

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We were warned not to try powering the Power Distribution board from a bench power supply (in lieu of a battery). Given the switching power supplies on the PD board, it could cause entrainment and subsequent power supplies meltdowns.
Where did you get this warning? I don't remember hearing it in the main sessions, and Erik didn't mention anything about it during our somewhat lengthy discussion of the board.

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They're rapidly researching the effects of running the practice field wireless on the 2.4GHz band to make practicing safer. They need to determine the effects on any FTC competitions.
The intent is to run the competition fields on the 5 GHz channels only.

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Random: Jaguar powered CIMs are quiet. To my "mosquito" ringer deaf ears, anyways.
They sounded just like Victor-controlled CIMs with a good gearbox to me, but I didn't intentionally try to give them too little power to get turning.

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All the cRIO modules are technically optional. Removing unused ones won't affect the operation of others. We were told the analog module in slot 1 would be required by rule, as it will be used to monitor battery voltage for field troubleshooting.
I think the digital module in slot 4 will be required too. Its associated sidecar provides the drive signal for the large amber signal light.
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