How Many Moters

[ICE_Bear]

Do we need to have all four wires for the motors on the gear box connected?

[Kevin Sevcik]

There are no motors in FRC that require 4 wires. What kind of motor is this? Can you upload a picture of it so we can determine what the wires are and which ones should be connected?

[ICE_Bear]

Sorry,not four wires, four motors. We have three wheels on each side of the chassis, and two motors connected to each gear box. Do we have to have each motor connected to motor controllers or can we get away with one motor on each side connected?

[SenorZ]

Yes. Each needs its own controller.
And you'll need to make sure that the motors are driven in the correct direction so they don't fight against each other.

If you leave one of the two disconnected it will be adding friction to the gearbox and dead weight to the robot.

[Mark McLeod]

You can test with only one motor on each side being powered.
As long as the second motor on each side spins freely.

You just wouldn't want to compete that way.

[Dunngeon]

Originally Posted by ICE_Bear

Sorry,not four wires, four motors. We have three wheels on each side of the chassis, and two motors connected to each gear box. Do we have to have each motor connected to motor controllers or can we get away with one motor on each side connected?

If you don't want to use one of the motors, remove it from the gearbox so it doesn't have a negative impact on your efficiency.

However, verify that your drive-train still performs the same. 1 cim per side will make it significantly harder (nearly impossible) to traverse the outerworks.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Why are we hedging this? One motor per side never makes sense anymore.

Answer: Yes, you need to connect all four motors. You will be extremely disappointed in your robot if you try to get by with with just one motor per side. The only reason to ever try just one per side is if you you have no money and simply can't afford enough motors or motor controllers.

[ahartnet]

Originally Posted by ICE_Bear

Sorry,not four wires, four motors. We have three wheels on each side of the chassis, and two motors connected to each gear box. Do we have to have each motor connected to motor controllers or can we get away with one motor on each side connected?

If you don't plan to power both motors, you should only have one motor in the gearbox. You can take the other out without any side affect. Leaving one in and unpowered just adds extra resistance/load. But your drivetrain will be able accelerate significantly faster and have more pushing power if you have two CIMs powering the gearbox.

Just curious - is the reason you're not powering all motors due to not having funding to purchase additional motor controllers? Or because you're unsure of how to get that to work either in code or electronically? As Kevin stated, you should really try to power both CIMs. The REV spark is only a $45 controller.

[Bob Steele]

Don't forget you can also get up to 3 Victor SP motor controllers or 2 talon SRX controllers from your Cross the Road/IFI voucher in your kit of parts.. (You will see the link to it on your TIMS account. Just pay shipping.

Here is the link to the program at CTRE/IFI

http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/pdv-2016.html

You just use the code from TIMS

Great opportunity!! Thank you Cross the Road Electronics and IFI!!!!