Basic Spark Linearity Testing

[Tom Line]

We just completed some basic testing on the Spark, both under load and with no output attached.

http://www.fightingpi.org/Resources/...ntroller.shtml

We're very happy with how it's been acting on our robot so far. We'd like to do more... but #Christmas #Newyears #Reallife #Kickoff

In a perfect world we would have tested with talons and new victors as well, but unfortunately this was done at home. Our build space is locked for the holidays =/.

[Joe Ross]

The small issues we saw in testing may very well have been related to the lack of a "Spark" LabVIEW class, and they only appear at extremely low power levels that FRC robots rarely operate at for extended periods.

I noticed you're a beta team again. As of beta update 5, the Spark is included.

[philso]

Tom

Thanks for doing the tear-down and taking the measurements.

Near the end of your write-up, you state "The motor controller did not experience any problems or overheat, and we drained 3 batteries that way." Did you happen to note what the heatsink temperature got to or did you do the old "if you can hold your finger on it, it should be Okay" test?

[Tom Line]

We did not take any formal temperature data, but the sparks never got so hot that we couldn't touch them without getting burned.

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

We did not take any formal temperature data, but the sparks never got so hot that we couldn't touch them without getting burned.

I assume that means you could always touch them without getting burned....



We were going to publish this today anyway....Here is a Temperature plot that we did based on a 40AMP continuous load @12 volts. We measured 2 data points inside the SPARK (right on the mosfets & on the Capacitors) and 2 datapoints outside (ontop of the heatsink & on the bottom of the plastic case). I am working on the full write up, but this should give you a good indication in the meanwhile.