We Need Serious Robot Help!

[IronBenderII]

Alexander. We can probably assist you tonight, maybe Skype or Face Time. I will send you a PM with my contact information...

[E Dawg]

Originally Posted by alexander.h

It's because, physically, they are. Go to http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/...control-system and do a ctrl+f to search for "4 Controllers - PWM Cables".

Sorry. I'm used to running a tank drive with four different PWM cables.

If you have anything that you can test power output with, try it on the motor controllers and post it here. That may help us to narrow down possible causes for your problem.

[alexander.h]

Originally Posted by E Dawg

Sorry. I'm used to running a tank drive with four different PWM cables.

If you have anything that you can test power output with, try it on the motor controllers and post it here. That may help us to narrow down possible causes for your problem.

On the red plus sign of the talon, there's 11 volts. On the other side, it's 0 volts.

[Bryce2471]

Does your joystick show up on the driver station?
If it does, is it in the right slot/configuration?

[Tem1514 Mentor]

Originally Posted by alexander.h

The PWMs are properly seated. We can still turn the drivetrain by ourselves. How can we tell if the DSC is properly powered (only 2 out of 3 LEDs are on). No, our motors aren't fighting against each other. Does that help?

If don't have all three LED's lighted on the digital sidecar none of your drive motors will work.

So go back to basics and check your wiring. The first place to start is with the digital sidecar and make sure are supplying 12 Volts NOT 5 volts to it. You get
12 volts from a 20 amp breaker on the PDB. Start with that and go forward one step at a time.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by alexander.h

The colors on the Talons are the same (orange), but two flash and two are solid.

Which 2 are solid? Are they on the same side or different sides?

Flashing orange means the Talon isn't getting any signal. Solid orange means the Talon is getting a signal, but it won't output anything since that signal is 0.

If it's flashing, it could be a code issue or a wiring issue. If it's solid, it's most likely a code issue, since the code has to be the one to send the Talon a signal of 0.

Originally Posted by alexander.h

On the red plus sign of the talon, there's 11 volts. On the other side, it's 0 volts.

I don't think this is the issue, but replace your battery with a fully charged one just to be sure.

[Chris_Ely]

Check your wiring.
All power should be wired according to this diagram.
All data (PWM, camera, and sensors) should be wired according to this diagram.

[chris.boyle]

I suspect that since you opened two instances of the drive system, they were competing with each other.

I'm enclosing a VI that shows how we opened our Joystick and the Archade Drive System using 4 motors. The code only identifies a 2 motor drive system, the "Y" cable from PWM1 goes to both motor controllers on the left side and the "Y" cable from PWM2 goes to both motor controllers on the right side. All motor control's MUST be of the same type; ie: Talon, Victor, Jaguar.

[AGPapa]

Originally Posted by chris.boyle

I suspect that since you opened two instances of the drive system, they were competing with each other.

This is almost certainly the problem.

You only need to have one drive system, the default arcade drive code works fine for your application and did not need to be changed.

I've attached a photo if you don't want to download Chris's code.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by alexander.h

I followed your advice, but it still doesn't work.

What did you do? When you removed the DB-37 cable, which power LEDs (if any were still lit). List them by name. How did you verify power to a 20 amp breaker on the PDB? Find a mentor who is proficient with a multi-meter to verify 12 volts at the Digital Sidecar power connector.

Your programming is also wrong, as pointed out by other people. However, do not ignore the power LEDs on the Digital Sidecar, even if the software changes "fix" your immediate problem. You need to get the Digital sidecar power fixed or else you will have more problems down the road.

[John]

Originally Posted by AGPapa

This is almost certainly the problem.

You only need to have one drive system, the default arcade drive code works fine for your application and did not need to be changed.

I've attached a photo if you don't want to download Chris's code.

The code is the a problem. You are commanding the same motor to go forward and reverse at once, making it not move.

This is actually not a direct result of using two drive systems (they cannot fight each other, drive one only uses PWM 1 and drive two PWM 2). The problem is because you have configured the left and right motors on each drive to feed to the same PWM, and then inverted one of them.

So your code works like this (when you go forward).
-->Get joystick value (1)
-->Set leftmotor to inverted joystick value (-1)
-->Set rightmotor to noninverted joystick value (1)
-->Left motor is PWM 1, set PWM 1 to value of -1
-->Right motor is PWM 1, set PWM 1 to value of 1

Nothing ever happens because you make the motors go full forward and full backward as fast as the code can execute.

Use Chris's code, but modify it for 4 talons (or use y-cables)

[alexander.h]

Originally Posted by Bryce2471

Does your joystick show up on the driver station?
If it does, is it in the right slot/configuration?

Yes and yes again.

[alexander.h]

Originally Posted by Tem1514 Mentor

If don't have all three LED's lighted on the digital sidecar none of your drive motors will work.

So go back to basics and check your wiring. The first place to start is with the digital sidecar and make sure are supplying 12 Volts NOT 5 volts to it. You get
12 volts from a 20 amp breaker on the PDB. Start with that and go forward one step at a time.

Thanks, all three are on now, but what do i do next?

[alexander.h]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

Which 2 are solid? Are they on the same side or different sides?

Flashing orange means the Talon isn't getting any signal. Solid orange means the Talon is getting a signal, but it won't output anything since that signal is 0.

If it's flashing, it could be a code issue or a wiring issue. If it's solid, it's most likely a code issue, since the code has to be the one to send the Talon a signal of 0.



I don't think this is the issue, but replace your battery with a fully charged one just to be sure.

My bad, all three are now and changing the battery doesn't work either.

[magnets]

We really need pictures to help you. Somebody on your team must have an iphone with camera who would be willing to take a picture for you.

Anyway, the flashing orange light on the talon means the talon has power, but no signal. If you're using the code posted earlier, which is correct, and you followed joe's advice to remove all cables but the power one and confirmed that all three leds are lit, then you need to check your pwm cable. Is it plugged in the right way? Try flipping the connector. Is it plugged in all the way?

The solid orange light means that your code is wrong (make sure you copy what was posted) or your driver station isn't recognizing your joystick. Under the diagnostic tabs, what color does the joystick 1 indicator turn when you push a button?