I hate Jaguars!!!

[nuggetsyl]

I have yet to see a reason why to use jaguars. IFI victors are lighter smaller and i have yet in all my first season have one fail (metal shaving do not count). I think its great we have a choice of products. I just see no advantage to using a component that has a record of not working every time.

[sharp]

It is one thing when they just seem to malfunction but it is a totally different thing when you/students hook up the main power block backwards and blow 5jags in one fell swoop. Does anyone know if TI will rebuild these or are they just shot and we have 5 new paper weights.

Sharp
2164 The Corps

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by nuggetsyl

I have yet to see a reason why to use jaguars. IFI victors are lighter smaller and i have yet in all my first season have one fail (metal shaving do not count). I think its great we have a choice of products. I just see no advantage to using a component that has a record of not working every time.

The jaguars 15kHz switching frequency, compared to the 150Hz of the victors means they run quieter, and they also control the motors to a finer degree AND their output is more linear than victors.

There ARE reasons to use them.

[Mark McLeod]

Black Jaguar RMA procedure

RMA Form

The Gray Jags, once burnt, are toast. They are no longer supported.

[MagiChau]

I did not find much bad experience with Jaguars in my short 2 build seasons working with them. We only had one bad, grey jaguar that gave out this year. One Black Jaguar from the 2011 KoP for some reason wasn't registering but it should be fine after some investigating. I like using the CAN network cables over PWM cables. And, I don't have to remember to not touch the fan.

[nuggetsyl]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

The jaguars 15kHz switching frequency, compared to the 150Hz of the victors means they run quieter, and they also control the motors to a finer degree AND their output is more linear than victors.

There ARE reasons to use them.

Yet top level after top level teams keep using IFI victors. I am all for choice, and any team that wants to use jags go for it. I my personal preference is a bullet proof system. If you have any victors you do not want, we will be happy to trade you our jags for victors.

[gustagoose]

We, 3172, have had significant issues with jaguars in our short existence. At Greater Kansas City Regional, early last March, we had two "blow-outs". We had a third "blow-out" during off-season community outreach, and a fourth during a test. With this fourth jaguar, we were not even enabled. We heard a quiet but very high pitched squeal emanating from the vicinity of the jaguar's 20 amp fuse. A slightly louder click sound pulsated through the, 14 gauge I believe, wire obviously connecting the jaguar with the main power board. We flipped the breaker, and turned it on again and got similar results. As a second year team, we simply don't have the funding to purchase jaguar after jaguar after jaguar. We have checked wire gauge, voltage, current, fuse, ground, connectors, etc. Nothing. Any advice or ideas would be splendid!

[Phalanx]

There definitely are arguments for both cases, however we are using a MIX of Jaguars(4) and Victors(4) this season. We are ONLY using the Victors due to space limitations otherwise they'd be Jaguars. Even that could have been avoided by better planing and design in the early stages.

Victors are a proven quantity with a solid track record. However, I fully expect them to do be disallowed in VERY the near future. Hence the migration to Jaguars and CAN.

Jaguars in their early stages (Gray/Brown) had some design flaws and some manufacturing defects, making them somewhat unreliable. That has been addressed with Texas Instruments purchase of Luminary Micro and the new BLACK Jaguars.

The Older Jaguars:
We have 4 Jaguars(Gray/Brown) running on a basic practice/test frame for 2 years, and they haven't failed yet.

I did have 1 Gray/Brown Jaguar fail with the typical meltdown of the Fairchild component when I attempted to use it this year. The other remaining Gray/Brown Jaguar is unused. As such, they are now all BLACK Jaguars.

The advantages to Jaguars and CAN are enormous compared to Victors & PWM besides being cheaper:

1) CAN wiring, is cleaner, easy to make with a standard teleco crimping tool, the plug in and don't fall out like PWM. CAN is also highly noise and interference resistant/tolerant unlike PWM.

2) Jaguars "built-in" support for Encoders, Potentiometers and Limit Switches and PID and software control of break/coast without additional wiring.

3) CAN Networking/Jaguar, you can...
a) Monitor the health and status of each device, it's voltage, it's temperature, the motors amp draw, etc...
b) You can program for Voltage Control, Current Control, Position Control and switch between them dynamically.
c) You can synchronize commands across multiple Jaguars.
d) List the goes on...

While, I'm not a huge fan of Jaguars due to their early history, I do see the future and benefits of them long term going forward.