RSL not flashing. Sidecar indicator also not flashing.

[Retro Frost]

Our RSL does not flash, it simply stays solid. It isn't any of the obvious problems, we have the La-Lb jumper, checked continuity all the way, and have no shorts.

In addition, the indicator LED on the sidecar is not flashing, just solid as well, and the USER1 LED on the cRIO (which is supposed to correspond to the signal light) is flashing extremely quickly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Has anything worked before now? If yes, then what did you change?

If no, I'd check your cable from the cRIO to the sidecar. Make sure it's seated properly on both sides and that it's constructed correctly. Pin 1 should connect to pin 1 and so on.

If the cable checks out, do you have 12V power connected to the sidecar?

If that checks out, it might be your code or the cRIO. What colors are the status lights on you Driver Station?

[Retro Frost]

It has worked before, but many things have been changed since then, and the RSL was forgotten along the way.

We do have 12V, the other things are working, and the light is on, just not blinking.

We get all green on the status lights, and the robot runs perfectly fine. We can't find anything wrong with the code, we just use the default LabVIEW code, and we haven't done anything to the code that controls the light.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Retro Frost

...the USER1 LED on the cRIO (which is supposed to correspond to the signal light) is flashing extremely quickly.

The USER1 LED flashes at different rates based on the robot mode, but it doesn't actually match the RSL pattern.

You can't do anything to the code that controls the RSL. It's all taken care of at a level you are unable to program. If the green light on the Digital Sidecar is always on, something is not right in the hardware.

Do you have the Digital module in slot 2 of the cRIO?

[Retro Frost]

LabVIEW, the only reason I say that the USER1 is supposed to correspond is because the mentor said so.

Where in the LabVIEW code is the RSL handled?

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Retro Frost

LabVIEW, the only reason I say that the USER1 is supposed to correspond is because the mentor said so.

Where in the LabVIEW code is the RSL handled?

No where you can see or have access to, so don't worry about that. Perhaps try a new or different ribbon cable or a new sidecar. Check the connectors on both ends to make sure you don't have any bent pins.

[nekojess]

Originally Posted by Retro Frost

Where in the LabVIEW code is the RSL handled?

(Yeah yeah, I know I'm 2 weeks late.)

It's handled directly in firmware, specifically /ni-rt/system/FRC_NetworkCommunication.out

Even more specifically, StatusIndicator::s_indicatorTask(). There it checks the control bits coming from the driver station, and it checks the battery voltage.

I described the control bits over here

What's weird is it first seems to check bits 0, 2, and 3 and fast blinks if any of them are 1 (I think). I don't know what bits 0 and 2 are, but bit 3 is FMS Attached. This is why during competition matches, the status lights do nothing but fast blink. I can't imagine what they were thinking, since now you can't tell what mode a bot is in by just looking at it...