Unexplained loss of motor power while valves work.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by apalrd

Digital Sidecar has metal shavings (or something else) shorting out the 5v line. When shorted (or overcurrent), the 5v supply shuts down to protect itself from destruction. ...

Sure looks like you lost the Sidecar. Shorting out the 5V rail is the most likely cause. Sometimes the Sidecar will protect itself when this happens, but it is also possible for ICs inside it to fail -- that happened to us at MSC. Two ICs showed pitted plastic tops, and that familiar smell of magic smoke, after we drilled through the red wire on one of our PWM cables coming from the Sidecar. Fixed the cable, replaced the Sidecar, good to go, lesson learned: don't hide cables where drills can find them!

[tr6scott]

Thanks for the input!

So seeing we ran fine after this failure, there probably isn't a damaged component on the sidecard.

Can the sidecard be opened and cleaned out? or better to be replaced and tested?

[Mark McLeod]

I'd open it and clean it out.
Test it afterwards to see if permanent damage was done, but most of the time it's shifting debris that causes temporary brownouts, but no permanent damage.

I tend to do that with all the components as they come off the robot, even if they haven't demonstrated problems.

Eveything collects metal dust at the least from rubbing gears and mechanism pieces. The bigger problems are metal filings and those aluminum spirals from drilling over unprotected electronics.