Conifirming somthing

[Culvan Van Li]

I'm new at this too, but here's what I think you are looking for. Please feel free to ask for further clarifications.

I'm assuming that you are referring to the cables that get hooked up to the VEX controller. Most of the cables are Red, Black and White. The red wire has +5 volts, the black is signal return and the white is data.

The data cable can either provide a digital output (on/off) of +5v or the motor outputs can provide a PWM output. These PWM outputs make a 1-2 millisecond (ms) pulse every 18.5 ms.

A buzzer may work well because you can just turn it on or off. The digital signals are good at that. I would recommend that you check the current draw of the buzzer before you hook it up though. I haven't checked the specs on the VEX kit yet, but most microcontrollers are only capable of 25mA. If it takes more than that I'd recommend that you use a relay or transistor to switch it on and off and use something else to power it, like batteries.

You will have a lot of trouble hooking up a standard speaker directly to one of the ports for 2 reasons. First, the processor isn't fast enough to make anything more than a simple tone. Second the you might draw too much current and damage the VEX controller. A speaker has a coil of wire so it may behave like an inductive load. Inductive loads have the ability to create power spikes significantly higher than you would expect.

As I mentioned earlier, I haven't checked the manual yet. My numbers may be off. Hopefully I've got you pointed in the right direction.

Andy