Speed controllers....

[VROGY]

Originally Posted by Denman

we have blown up 5 or something speed controllers (the first ones )in the last year......... we are currently thinking about going for "homemade" or buying some from somewhere nearby.....
however when they are costing around £150 (~ 250 dollars) and we will need 2 or 4 of them..... we are unsure of what to do....
ideas?

Here's a crazy idea: self-resetting fuses. Maybe it's not in the kit, but you'd think that you could get approval for something as budget-saving as this...

5 Victors sure is worth a lot...

[Paul H]

You have the fans hooked up to the input side, right?

If they're hooked up to the output, they will not be funninf at full power most of the time.

[kevin.li.rit]

Originally Posted by VROGY

Here's a crazy idea: self-resetting fuses. Maybe it's not in the kit, but you'd think that you could get approval for something as budget-saving as this...

5 Victors sure is worth a lot...

Self Resetting fuses are in the kits.

[VROGY]

Originally Posted by Coffeeism

Self Resetting fuses are in the kits.

Sweet. The last time I was on a FIRST team was in 2001.

[Rickertsen2]

If you have killed that many, you are either the most unlucky team on the face of the robosphere and you have some how managed to incite a fiery vengence against you from the robot gods or you are doing somehtign wrong. I have put those thigns through alot of abuse including running them at about 20 volts instead of 12, dropping them etc and have never had any problem.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by VROGY

Here's a crazy idea: self-resetting fuses.

Originally Posted by VROGY

Sweet. The last time I was on a FIRST team was in 2001.

Actually, they've been part of the kit as long as I've been in FIRST; see this from the 1999 kit, on page 4.

[VROGY]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Actually, they've been part of the kit as long as I've been in FIRST; see this from the 1999 kit, on page 4.

seppuku?

[GeorgeTheEng]

I have to say, in 5 years, I only seen one bad speed controller. Last year we got one that would not produce output, but IFI replaced it quickly.

On a side note, if you want some to experiment with, I have some older 883's that my team would part with cheaply. (the money going back into the teams funding) They are not competition legal, but might be better to test out the problem then frying new legal ones.