Camera Shorts (and starts smoking)

[kokodabear]

We had our camera set up on our test robot and it worked flawlessly. We got our robot to turn towards the target and everything. We hooked it up to our competition robot and it initially worked the same.

One day the power PWM cable decided to melt and it smoked. It was plugged in correctly, and it worked when we replaced the PWM cable. Then today it started smoking again. I am pretty sure that it is shorting.

Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas for the cause?

[devicenull]

Proper amount of spacers behind the camera?

[kokodabear]

We thought about that issue after the first short, so we covered the whole back with electrical tape.

Is that a bad idea?

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by kokodabear

bad idea?

Electrical tape does nothing against the sharp points of solder on the back of the camera board.
It must be insulated by an air gap you can see through.

[KTorak]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Electrical tape does nothing against the sharp points of solder on the back of the camera board.
It must be insulated by an air gap you can see through.

I found that foam tape works well for insulating. We had an issue with our GTS shorting out with the Gear Box becuase of the sharp solder points. We first ground them down, covered them with electrical tape, then a bit of foam tape insace anything wants to poke through.

[kokodabear]

If our camera no longer works (I mean it has only shorted twice ) can we replace it with the kit camera from last year? They appear to be the same model.

Thanks for all your help.

[mechanicalbrain]

yeah they are interchangeable. Before you do though find the problem.

[kokodabear]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

yeah they are interchangeable. Before you do though find the problem.

some good ol' styrofoam did the trick. no more exploding camera! thanks guys.