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Unread 29-03-2002, 02:30
Jay Lundy Jay Lundy is offline
Programmer/Driver 2001-2004
FRC #0254 (The Cheesy Poofs)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 320
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Important info about light

At the cleveland regional, our robot had a short and because of this we would always get a low battery after about 1 1/2 mins of operation. We thought we had solved it when we (a) put nylon spacers around the bolts from the light and (b) shortened a screw in the drill motor that possibly could have been touching a connection inside the drill motor.

Just to be safe we built a new panel completely out of plexiglass after the regional to mount the light on. We thought we had solved the problem, but during one of the practice rounds today our battery died early. It may have just been a low battery, but we decided to test it anyway and sure enough our robot was connected directly to the ground that runs throughout the entire robot (as in, we turned the robot on, stuck one side of the multimeter on the frame and the other on the negative terminal of the battery and there was a connection. We also could touch one side on the frame and the other side on the positive terminal and read 12 V).

We were again supicious of the light, and disconnected it from the relay, which opened the connection to the frame, so it was obviously the light. We decided the problem was a screw that has nothing to do with the light assembly was resting up against the rubber surrounding the light base. The rubber near the screw had been torn up a little (though we could not see an obvious connection between metal and metal) so we decided to try a new light with a fresh rubber base. Yet, when we hooked it up, we still had a problem. There was no way the screw was touching metal, only the 1/4" piece of rubber. Just out of curiousity, I tested the connection between the rubber around the light and the metal on the light and to our surprise there was a connection!

Anyway, we solved the problem by moving the screw, but we are still confused as to how rubber can conduct electricity. I also suggest everyone, especially those who are having problems with their batteries, to check this to make sure this is not happening to them. Although it may be exciting to watch, I don't really want to see two robots, one with a negatvely charged frame and one with a positively charged frame, get into a pushing match.

Also if anyone has any idea what is up with the rubber on the light, an explanation would be nice.
 


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