New Talon Speed Controller

[JesseK]

Calibration of motor controllers is a pretty standard practice in RC (especially in the quad rotor world). If the controllers aren't calibrated, the motors will not be in sync (i.e. receive the same power input) -- which could be an issue for motors that are mechanically linked. In quadrotors, the motors are linked via software PID for stability purposes, meaning uncalibrated motor controllers will cause a quadrotor to crash almost immediately.

[Brian Selle]

Originally Posted by Mike Copioli

If the Talon is deemed legal a Talon Class would most likely exist.

Any hint from FIRST as to when we might know if the Talon is legal? Before Jan 5th?

[mikets]

Mike,
We switched to use CAN bus last year and was starting to enjoy using it. Plus we have invested in a couple of 2CANs. Any idea if Talon will eventually support CAN?

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by btslaser

Any hint from FIRST as to when we might know if the Talon is legal? Before Jan 5th?

I suggest the first hint will probably come to the Beta Test teams, but there probably won't be any guarantee until kickoff!

[Mike Copioli]

Originally Posted by mikets

Mike,
We switched to use CAN bus last year and was starting to enjoy using it. Plus we have invested in a couple of 2CANs. Any idea if Talon will eventually support CAN?

The answer is yes. And thank you.

[dsirovica]

Greetings, a new season has begun! and we seem to have a new speed controller that looks like a Vic!

A quick look at the Jag schematic says that when the robot is pushed, the generated current will try to flow in such a way to charge the battery. But if the battery is not connected the voltage to the PDB will keep rizing... Is there something in the PDB that will shunt this current - or something will blow!

Dean

Originally Posted by Camren

Ok to clarify my above post.

Are team has found that any sort of free wheel action on the robot (ie pushing it) Causes the motors to become a generator that sends current back into the motor controller. Well with the Jaguars they didn't have anything to stop it so we fried a lot of them. The new Talon controller has

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Camren,
The type of locked antiphase PWM modulation that is used in the Talon is simply the method that used to turn on the FETs that provide motor currents. The FETs in the Talon, Victor and Jaguar all have diodes that provide a path back to the power supply while the motors are coasting or being pushed. This diode is a result of manufacture as I understand.

Rickie and Jon, not to mislead, the conformal coatings on the Victors protect the circuit board components, but the leads of the FETs are still sometimes exposed. Metal swarf still can kill a Victor but they are far more immune to this than the current TI/Luminary production Jaguars. I am going to guess (highly recommend) that the IFI production runs will contain the same conformal coatings as current Victor products. The really difficult component in the Jag to coat is the current sense resistor since this can dissipate large amounts of power/heat. However, if metal falls across it, there isn't likely to be any catastrophic failure since the value is so small.

[Ricky Q.]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Camren,
I am going to guess (highly recommend) that the IFI production runs will contain the same conformal coatings as current Victor products. The really difficult component in the Jag to coat is the current sense resistor since this can dissipate large amounts of power/heat. However, if metal falls across it, there isn't likely to be any catastrophic failure since the value is so small.

Al,

Yes, the Jaguar will feature the same conformal coating as the Victor.

Best,
Ricky

[dsirovica]

Sorry I've been out of the loop on this all summer:
What was the outcome of FIRST's RFP for Jaguar replacement?

Thanks,
Dean

[connor.worley]

Originally Posted by dsirovica

Sorry I've been out of the loop on this all summer:
What was the outcome of FIRST's RFP for Jaguar replacement?

Thanks,
Dean

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr.../blog-10-03-12

[Ricky Q.]

Originally Posted by dsirovica

Sorry I've been out of the loop on this all summer:
What was the outcome of FIRST's RFP for Jaguar replacement?

Thanks,
Dean

Dean,

Going forward, IFI will be manufacturing, selling, supporting, and donating Jaguars to the 2013 Kits of Parts.

More details are here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr.../blog-10-03-12

Ricky

[dsirovica]

Thanks and excellent news!

I noticed he following:
"Second, the firmware will be modified to remove the current limit protection "

That is great too as that was probably the most significant issue with the Jag (there are others elaborated on on the blogs). However, I hope the current limit is only increased rather than dissabled completely (as in by shorting R23).

Thanks,
Dean

Originally Posted by Ricky Q.

Dean,

Going forward, IFI will be manufacturing, selling, supporting, and donating Jaguars to the 2013 Kits of Parts.

More details are here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr.../blog-10-03-12

Ricky

[electroken]

Originally Posted by Mike Copioli

This was a typo in the User Manual. The actual refresh rate is 333Hz or (3 ms). The input capture is driven by an interrupt so as long as there is some space between the edges of the input pulse, the output will update correctly.
If your pulse spacing is 3 ms or greater you should have no problem.

All of our testing over the last 2 weeks has been at a refresh rate of 242Hz, as I was too lazy to reconfigure the PIC we're using for pulse generation.

I hope the Talon gets FRC approval. So far, this thing is bulletproof.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Nemo

I'm super interested to hear what the electrical nerds have to say about this product. Is there any reason to stay with the Victor over the Talon (cost aside)?

Here's hoping we get some of these in the kit of parts.

So far, we've seen a whole lot of reasons to choose the Talon over the older Victors. The biggest one for us is that the talon is showing linearity as good as the Jag, better control around the zero point (smaller dead band), and a victor-sized footprint.

For an idea of just how bad the linearity is on a the Victor, look here:
http://www.fightingpi.org/Resources/...12_Day_3.shtml

Many teams have fixed that in software - so it can be done, but it's an extra step that is better handled in hardare.

Of course, there's a new Victor coming out as well. It's not exactly fair to compare an old product to the new Talon. Apples to apples will be the new Victor vs. the Talon.

[Racer26]

Wow. That non-linearity is pretty ugly.