Emergency Vic 884 Help Needed

[psychoCHIPMUNKK]

We've got a slight problem with our test frame. We've built the kitbot and were attempting to wire it, but for some reason our 2 new 884s will only flash orange. The other 2 old ones work fine. We've replaced the cable 3 times (it's one of the yellow split ones) and switched the port around, and for some reason it still wont work. We've taken the tabs off the new ones, and made sure they're in far enough, but nothing has worked yet. Does anyone know what to try next?

[BrianBSL]

Originally Posted by psychoCHIPMUNKK

We've got a slight problem with our test frame. We've built the kitbot and were attempting to wire it, but for some reason our 2 new 884s will only flash orange. The other 2 old ones work fine. We've replaced the cable 3 times (it's one of the yellow split ones) and switched the port around, and for some reason it still wont work. We've taken the tabs off the new ones, and made sure they're in far enough, but nothing has worked yet. Does anyone know what to try next?

Try a straight PWM cable from the RC, and make sure when you pull it out that the pins look straight. If they arn't when you pull the cable out, that means the pins arn't going in the socket correctally. Otherwise, call IFI and get them replaced, but its pretty unlikely that you have a bad one, much more likely one of the pins just isn't going in straight.

[Katie Reynolds]

Make sure you read through the User's Manual and Installation Info documents from IFI. One of the suggestions they make is this:

Indication: Flashing ORANGE indicator on power up.
Problem: No PWM signal.
Possible Solutions:
1. Ensure the transmitter and receiver are powered ON.
2. The PWM cable may be improperly connected. Check wire color-coding at each end. Check that the connector is not off a pin at the receiver end.
3. Check for a good PWM signal by connecting a known good servo to the PWM extension cable. If the servo does not move, this can indicate either:
a) a faulty receiver
b) an improperly connected cable
c) a bad PWM extension cable
Note: The servo requires that 5V be present on the center pin of the PWM cable. This connection is not required for the Victor.

[psychoCHIPMUNKK]

Thanks for the quick responses. It got even more complicated. For some reason, now a single cable will run a single 884, but when we connect the Y cable and one 884, it works, however, when we connected the other vic to the Y cable, the first vic stopped getting a signal and the second started getting the signal instead, without moving or removing the cable from the first vic. This is getting very odd...

[steven114]

Do you have a low battery?

[Alan Anderson]

We just hooked up our new 884s on our "official" testbed 'bot today. They weren't getting a PWM signal, just sitting there flashing orange. We spent a while making sure the RC was putting out signals correctly, using a servo to verify that the outputs were doing what we expected.

I finally noticed that one of the PWM cables was plugged in backwards, and in the process of correcting that I discovered that none of them had been inserted far enough. They went in with a very firm "click". Now they work fine.

Though you say they're in far enough, your symptoms are consistent with the PWM cables not being solidly connected. Try applying just a little more force than you think you need to when you plug them in.

[Jonathan Brain]

Our team finished wiring our bot a few days ago, and we ran into the same problem, we switched the PWM cables and some victors would work, then switched other PWMs and the ones that worked before wouldn't. I don't know exactly what was wrong with them, just that after a good half an hour of switiching PWM cables, we got them all to work. I would say that they aren't in enough, that would be the only explanation, atleast for ours. But anyways, we haven't run into any problems with the victors cutting off in our rigorous testing.

Good Luck

[Shu Song]

We are having this problem as well. Though ours is even stranger. We hooked up a victor for the first time and it worked... for about two days. after that, we unplugged the pwn cable and put it back just minutes later and all the victor would do is blink orange.

We hooked up a servo to that cable and the servo worked fine. So through some sort of "magic" by one of our engineers bending a pin, the victor worked again.

But today, we hooked the victor up again and, surely enough, it didn't work, still blinking orange. But this time, when we hooked up the servo again, the servo wouldn't work. We finally switched a victor and the connection was working again.

This is a very peculiar problem. I must say that these victors are really bad this year. No labels, pieces of plastic sticking out of the pwm connection, and now this... oy.

[dez250]

Originally Posted by TierraDelDiablo

We are having this problem as well. Though ours is even stranger. We hooked up a victor for the first time and it worked... for about two days. after that, we unplugged the pwn cable and put it back just minutes later and all the victor would do is blink orange.

We hooked up a servo to that cable and the servo worked fine. So through some sort of "magic" by one of our engineers bending a pin, the victor worked again.

But today, we hooked the victor up again and, surely enough, it didn't work, still blinking orange. But this time, when we hooked up the servo again, the servo wouldn't work. We finally switched a victor and the connection was working again.

This is a very peculiar problem. I must say that these victors are really bad this year. No labels, pieces of plastic sticking out of the pwm connection, and now this... oy.

I wouldn't say your victors are bad yet you may have a bad cable. One of the crimps to the pins may be loose or you may have a broken internal wire. Either way if you move the cable a little bit one way you may make a full connection while if its moved any other way the connection is not there it theres no pwm signal so you get the blinking orange light. I would say to try a cable that is brand new or one that works for sure, and make sure when you put it in, it goes in all the way [this may require a little force].

[Ian W.]

Originally Posted by TierraDelDiablo

This is a very peculiar problem. I must say that these victors are really bad this year. No labels, pieces of plastic sticking out of the pwm connection, and now this... oy.

I must admit, I'm feeling the same way as you. Especially about the lack of labeling. I've used the Victors enough that I pretty much know by heart what goes where, but there's plenty of new students on the team, and I'm sure plenty of new rookie teams, who have never seen a Victor before, and pick thme up and wonder what goes where.

The biggest problem by far though is the sheath that you have to file down. It has good intentions, yes, but it took us at least half an hour to get the PWM connectors properly seated in the Victor, because we'd either bend pins or it wouldn't fit in at all. What happened to the Victor 883's with no sheath, so much easier to just use some hot glue...

The plus side is that once you get the PWM connector in, it doesn't seem like it's going to be moving very far, just don't plan on making five second repairs in the middle of the finals, because it'll take you quite some time to replace a victor this year.

[Charly]

Wow quite strange occurrences. The only thing that slowed me down when hooking up the speed controllers were the little annoying pieces of plastic in the PWM sockets. After I removed those they went in just fine and work perfectly.