FRC Player Station Rules

[Qormix]

Hi My Name is Marc Levesque. I'm one of rockie team 4976 programmers. I cannon't seem to find anything in the FRC Manual about an external monitor.

[Connerd]

By external monitor do you mean:
1. A monitor you plug into your driver station, for some reason, or
2. A desktop computer to act as your driver station?

I don't know why you would want to plug another monitor into your driver station, as that would block you view of the Real World Monitor, and I don't know the rules on 2., but I don't think you'd want to have to lug around a full desktop computer. Just use a classmate, netbook, small laptop, etc. as your driver station.

Remember, your driver has the best monitors in his/her head. Good luck, and I hope I answered your question.

*EDIT* Just out of curiosity, if the above wasn't what you wanted to use an external monitor for, what did you want to use it for?

[Qormix]

For clarification I mean an external desktop monitor that can be plugged into the classmate as the screen on the classmate is very small and low resolution

[nathannfm]

I have seen teams use external USB monitors on driver stations before, you may want to consider these as they are much lighter.

[lucas.alvarez96]

You could just use a higher res laptop with a bigger screen. There isn't rule that prohibits you from using a different PC than the Classmate. Anyway, you'd need to install LabVIEW+Update Suite if you're using LabVIEW for your robot+dashboard, or else, if programming with Java or C/C++, just install the Update Suite and the respective IDE to get the Driver Station and the special "Smart Dashboard".

[Bryan Herbst]

Keep in mind that external monitors typically require their own power supply.

As per section 2.2.8 of the game manual:

Each PLAYER STATION also includes a single 120VAC NEMA 5-15R power outlet. It is located on the right side of each PLAYER STATION shelf. This outlet is protected by a 3-Amp circuit breaker and can be used to power the OPERATOR CONSOLE.

So you will need a power strip, and you'll need a monitor that doesn't draw much current. The monitor I'm using now draws 1.2A, and I believe the classmate draws 1.2A. You could of course also just charge your laptop before you get to the field.

It's possible, but you'll probably want to run some tests to make sure you don't trip the breaker at the competition.

[Qormix]

Thats for the help you solved my problem