Speed Controller brake/coast setting

[velocipenguin]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

if you are talking about the relay spikes that are in the KOP - you cannot use those to control the brake pins - the spikes put out 12V switched plus or minus, and they need power on their input (+12V) to work. they dont get their power from the PWM cables.

Yes. Wiring a Spike to the brake/coast jumper on a Victor would probably cause an unwanted release of magic smoke. If you intend to use something to control the jumpers for the Victors that drive your robot, then you'd probably be switching both at the same time and would only need one servo. Controlling the braking mode of your speed controllers with a servo and a pair of microswitches is a lot cheaper than destroying them by feeding 12 volts to the I/O lines of the speed controllers' logic circuitry.