ball shifter vs wcp ds

[SeanFitz]

After talking extensively with several teams who run 6 CIM West Coast Drives, this is what I've found out:

1) It's not a problem anymore, but the CRio had a minimum voltage shutoff (under 5 volts). One team changed this down to a more manageable number and had no problems whatsoever with brownouts.

2) The most important thing to watch is the current. At the moment, my team has code written that detects if the current draw to the motors is over a certain interval that would also blow a breaker. If this happens for a certain period of time (it's something like 1 or 0.5 seconds) the motors automatically shift down and stay there.

3) If 6 CIMs is too much voltage, you could always swap out 1 or 2 with mini CIMs. They have the same rpm, just less torque.

Speaking as a driver, though, the 6 CIMs are well worth the risk once you get out on the field and can push people around. Just make sure you have easy access to your drivetrain in case anything breaks. Didn't do it last year and ended up spending over an hour to change a blown CIM.