Strange system problem

[Bill Becker]

Thanks! this is great info/advice. I feel much better about our prospects of resolving it quickly now. We will need to borrow a clamp ammeter from someone though.

In Reply to Andy's questions:

Originally Posted by Andy A.

I would suspect a mechanical bind and/or poor electrical connections. I'm leaning towerds a bad connection.


Are you using the kit gearboxs? We are using a two speed pneumatically shifted gearbox. It is possible that the pressure to the pistons got increased somehow and is causing binding.

What motors are driving?Each gearbox is powered by 1 CIM

Are all your motors moving in the right direction? Yes, they worked fine in all of our qual matches.

Do you have a compressor on board? Yes

-Andy A.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by Bill Becker

Thanks! this is great info/advice. I feel much better about our prospects of resolving it quickly now. We will need to borrow a clamp ammeter from someone though.

In Reply to Andy's questions:

Look!! Up in the sky!! It's a bird! It's a plane! NO, IT'S A BIG GREEN TOWER!! !!! !!!! !!

Bill, and all teams, if you need any help or resources in the pits, check with our pit crew. We'll do our best to help get your robot back to tiptop running condition. I'll check with The Lucas tonight to see if we've packed the type ammeter you need to borrow.

Good Luck at Championships!!! (Where are those Divisions? It's already 9:45 AM!! Impatient? Who, ME?)

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by Bill Moore

I'll check with The Lucas tonight to see if we've packed the type ammeter you need to borrow.

Bill, we will have the ammeter you need. Just stop by the pits and ask. Good Luck!

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by Bill Moore

Bill, we will have the ammeter you need. Just stop by the pits and ask. Good Luck!

As Bill said we do have a DC clamp ammeter. It plugs into a voltmeter for readout (it produces 1mV for each amp) so you will need a voltmeter (we have that too if you need it). Come by our pit anytime. We are in Galileo and you will defiantly see our Tower of MOEdor (if we had time to put it up).

As for your problem, I would guess you are overloading your CIM motors (only one per side) particularly in high gear. I see from your website that you are using 4 thick rubber wheels which would require a lot of torque/current to turn. You can check for breaker trips by looking at the LED on the breaker panel. If it turns yellow or red, you are tripping breakers. In the default code, the OI user byte can tell you which breaker was the last to trip if you put a serial cable from the breaker panel to the program port. I would be happy to help you diagnose the problem; I am usually in our pit.