Tetrix motor not working

[groudonkoorb]

Our team has a motor that had some wire soldered on the terminals. There was so much wire and solder that we could not get the power wire for the motor on. we used a soldering iron to heat up that solder and pulled out the wires with pliers. we then tested the robot and the motor ran fine, but a while later when we tested it again that one motor did not move. we tested that motor power wire on a different motor and that ran, so it is not a problem with the code or wire. The power terminals on the motor have a little bit of solder on them, but not much and it worked for a while. Has anyone had a similar problem, or know a solution? Thanks

[MattC9]

How much stress did yall put on the motor?

[Brandon Zalinsky]

I'm not sure what was on the terminal before you put the power wire on, but here's some tests you can run to see what's wrong.

First, get a multimeter and set it to DC volts.

1. Enable and press whatever button or move whatever throttle required to move the motor. Test the input terminals on the Jaguar/Victor that is controlling the motor in question. They should have voltage, but if they don't, then the problem is with your power distribution or control system.

2. Push the button/throttle for the motor again. This time, test the output. If it doesn't receive voltage, then the problem is with the Jag/Victor, or with your CAN network/PWM system, depending on which you have.

3. Push the button again. Test the motor terminals (not the solder on the terminals) this time. If they don't receive voltage, then power isn't getting to the motor, and the problem is in the soldering/wiring from the jag/victor to the motor. If it is receiving voltage, then you're in deep trouble- the motor is probably fried.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[groudonkoorb]

not very much. it moved our test bot made of plywood on a flat surface for about 3 seconds

[Mr V]

Time for the sniff test. Take the motor stick it too your nose and smell it. Does it smell like burnt plastic? If yes then you likely burnt up the inductor a common effect of overloading or stalling the Tetrix motor. Lots of us FRC teams that were around for Logomotion know it all too well. You can also take your ohm meter and check the resistance across the terminals.

[groudonkoorb]

it does smell like burnt plastic. thanks for the help

[MattC9]

Originally Posted by groudonkoorb

it does smell like burnt plastic. thanks for the help

Yep this is what I was going to get at. This usually happend to us when we put to much stress on it and it started smoking.

[itzdepresed]

Although you found the problem, another possible cause could be solder being dropped inside of the motor.