Using two spikes for one motor

[supergrover]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

you only need one spike to get forwards and reverse - thats how they work.

only restriction is you are not allowed to use spikes for the drill or chip motors.

thanks for the help guys....but we thought we could only use them in one direction....on or off...so how do we make them go forward and reverse?

thanks guys for the quick response

[ChrisA]

For each spike there are 2 variables for programming. One is relayX_fwd and the other is relayX_rev. By setting both to 0 it is the same as setting a Victor to 127. It is a neutral position. By setting either the fwd or rev variable to 1 would indicate which direction it will run. Just don't set both to 1 because that won't work.

[supergrover]

Thank you very much!

[Dave Scheck]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Just don't set both to 1 because that won't work.

This is true in this case Chris, but as an FYI it can work in some cases.

Take the case that you are controlling two pneumatic devices with a single Spike. Electrically you would connect one pin of each of the solenoids to ground and the other to either the M+ or M- on the Spike. Then in software the relayX_fwd controls the device plugged into M+ and relayX_rev controls M-. (Note that you only get on/off functionality with this method) By setting both to one, both devices would be controlled.