Van Door Motor Help

[Saber Robotics]

Hey all,

We want to use a van door motor this year for the first time and had a few questions about it. I noticed that it has more torque and more RPM than a standard window motor, which is what we need for our application. We unfortunately do not recognize the type of connection that is on the end of the electrical wire. Can anyone tell us what it is and the type of connection that we will need.

Here is a picture from the motors available on FIRST choice.
http://www.andymark.com/Van-Door-mot...-p/fc12-72.htm

It is the clip that is attached to the red and blue wires.

Finally is there any other information that we should know about these types of motors, ie. work load, or its reliability.

Thanks

[DonRotolo]

The specs are published somewhere.

You are allowed to cut off the connector and attach the wires to a different connector of your choosing. At least, that is my interpretation of <R49>B, you might want to ask on the official FIRST Q&A

[R49] Motors, servos, and electric solenoids used on the Robot shall not be modified in any way, except as follows:
A. The mounting brackets and/or output shaft/interface may be modified to facilitate the physical connection of the motor to the Robot and actuated part.
B. The electrical input leads may be trimmed to length as necessary.
C. The locking pins on the window motors (PN 262100-3030 and 262100-3040) may be removed.
D. The connector housings on the window motors (PN 262100-3030 and 262100-3040) may be modified to facilitate lead connections.

[ksanger]

Sorry can't help on this particular connector. We've used window motors the past two years and have had issues. Found others had trouble driving them with Jaguars. We still had trouble using Victors. My feeling is that they overheat and then the thermal shut down occurs. They get hot when running continuously. Haven't tried running them continuously with lower loads.

I would be wary of the published load curves. Especially for continuous or heavy usage. For light usage, like rolling your window up and down once or twice per trip, they should be okay.

[Saber Robotics]

I suppose I should share how we will be using the motor. We would like to use it to hold the bridge down so that we could pass.

So it would not be constantly driving but just when necessary.

[Garrett.d.w]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

You are allowed to cut off the connector and attach the wires to a different connector of your choosing. At least, that is my interpretation of <R49>B, you might want to ask on the official FIRST Q&A

In the past this interpretation has been correct, as we have removed the plastic casing around the contacts on window motors in the past. Just make sure that any modification you make does not invite the possibility of electrocution or short.

[Saber Robotics]

Thanks for all the help! Now one more quick question, do they work better on victors or jaguars?

[Garrett.d.w]

Originally Posted by Saber Robotics

Thanks for all the help! Now one more quick question, do they work better on victors or jaguars?

Both have worked fine for us, just don't feed them too much power for extended periods of time. The window motors (and van door motors) have a small heat sensor inside that cuts power to the motor whenever it gets hot. Unfortunately this happens very quickly under heavy loads.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Saber Robotics

Thanks for all the help! Now one more quick question, do they work better on victors or jaguars?

they do great on jags; last year I used a stray 2008 door motor to test Serial Can via a Laptop. they are great for speed testing, as they already have leads you can crimp to, the speed is slow enough that one can see what is happening, and the motor sits flat on a workbench.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

You may cutoff the connector to attach the wires to power in your design. Often a team will position a speed controller near to the motor and attach the motor leads directly to the output of the speed controller. This is acceptable under the rule quoted by Don above.

[Saber Robotics]

Ok well I think that is all that I need. I will check with the rest of the team and make sure they don't have any other questions.

Thanks again