victor 884 blowout

[Cody Carey]

About five days before shipping, we just happened to glance at the electronics and notice that two of the 884s that were on two entirely different motors were blown, one to a window and the other to a CIM. we replaced them with red-sticker 884s from last year and everything was fine until the next day when we blew ANOTHER new 884. We checked all the regulations and our wiring was done to specs. has anyone else had this problem?

[dez250]

Originally Posted by Cody C

About five days before shipping, we just happened to glance at the electronics and notice that two of the 884s that were on two entirely different motors were blown, one to a window and the other to a CIM. we replaced them with red-sticker 884s from last year and everything was fine until the next day when we blew ANOTHER new 884. We checked all the regulations and our wiring was done to specs. has anyone else had this problem?

Were you doing any work around them where metal chips could of gotten into the FET's or casing. If this could have occured then that most likely is your answer, you shorted them out. If you have the Victors still and could get photos of the damage that is visable someone here could get you the most likely answer.

[Cody Carey]

We mounted the electronics on lexan, and then brought the electronics to the finished frame after blowing them down with compressed air, so I'm fairly sure there were no metal shavings. The crazy thing is that there is no visable damage, they just stopped working

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Cody C

We mounted the electronics on lexan, and then brought the electronics to the finished frame after blowing them down with compressed air, so I'm fairly sure there were no metal shavings. The crazy thing is that there is no visable damage, they just stopped working

Make sure it is wired up correctly including PWM cables.

[Cody Carey]

Ok, I am VERY fairly sure that we did everything by the book, and as soon as we wired up last years controllers instead, they worked. It just kind of seemed like a weird thing that it was only the new 884s.

[dez250]

Originally Posted by Cody C

Ok, I am VERY fairly sure that we did everything by the book, and as soon as we wired up last years controllers instead, they worked. It just kind of seemed like a weird thing that it was only the new 884s.

OK I think i know your problem. The new Victor 884's have a longer and harder to seat pwm socket. When you get to your robot at your first event, take the pwm cable out of the one that isn't working now and check to see if the pins are bent. If they are it means they weren't aligned with the socket and got bent while inserting. If they aren't and the Victor doesn't respond, just flashes orange then try to re-seat the pwm cable. These new Victors take a little more force and patience to seat the pwm cables properly.

[Cody Carey]

OK, thanx! I'll try to hook the "blown" 884s up tomorrow on our test bot, and if it works you'll hear from me

[sanddrag]

What makes you say they are "blown"? Was there fire, smoke, sparks?

[Cody Carey]

Well, when I say "blown" I mean cease to work, or messed up
you know, like if someone had "blown" it, or screwed up.

[sanddrag]

Does the indicator light show anything at all?

[Cody Carey]

On two of them, no. but on the other one it was flashing as though there were no pwm input.

[FusionDude364]

Originally Posted by dez250

The new Victor 884's have a longer and harder to seat pwm socket.

Yes, PWMs are very irritating to deal with anyway, but the new victors definately make it harder. Also, I dont think your problem is this extreme, but try checking the motors. We rewired our last year bot at the start of this year, one reason being one side kept blowing victors (we went through about 4). The problem wound up being the cim motor it was connected to. We replaced the motor and havent had a problem since. Again, I doubt your problem is this severe, but this is worth checking if nothing else works. I would definately check the PWMs first though.