does anyone have OI and RC radio issues

[UlTiMaTeP]

Lets make things clear.

Two problems were discussed here today.

1, V13 repeating the last code, for an extra few seconds.
2. Defective Radios


1. With the V14 Beta update this problem should be fixed.
2. It seems that a few of these new radios this year actually have some kind of defect in them.
Lost Packets / No Radio as if it was getting interference or something was blocking the signal. After you have performed all the normal maintenance is when a call should be placed to IFI. The wonderful people at IFI are sending out tested replacements.

[Tytus Gerrish]

I have not yet encountered a radio that will remain functioning for more than a few seconds without cutting out

[Schnabel]

We tested our radio out today, and had a very unreliable connection the entire time. At one point in time, when trying to drive the left side forward, the right side went backward and continued to after disabling.

[whytheheckme]

Our radios have problems too. They cut every 10 seconds or so, and then reconnect.

Jacob

[waialua359]

SOOOOOOOO, if the new beta code supposed to resolve the problems, how come we never downloaded it and our robot/radios work fine now?
The ones that came in our kit was "defective" and by just getting new replacements from IFI, it works fine now after hours of testing.
Seems to me there are more variables in what the problem could be.
Anyways, if it aint broke, why fix it at this point for us.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Schnabel

We tested our radio out today, and had a very unreliable connection the entire time.

On the other hand, I had been using it without incident for a week when working with the camera on last year's drive base, and it behaved itself just fine this evening while I was twiddling with the joystick response. (I was running the OI from one of the old drill batteries for portability tonight. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.)

The only oddness I have noticed with the new radio modems is the time they takes to sync up when first turned on. The old radios found each other within a second or two; the new ones take closer to ten.

[waialua359]

that is TRUE! we noticed that also that it takes a while for them to link up together.
great observation.

[Jake M]

Is this still true for teams who have received new radios from IFI, or who don't have this problem at all?

[esquared]

There is one confirmed response from waialua who had the issues we've all reported, sent his back, got them back from IFI 'repaired', and they now have no issues. There are 2 other teams who I know have sent theirs back (my team, and team 930). Dave K. from 930 will hopefully have his back this week, and update us if his work.

Our radios should be at IFI today, as soon as I hear back from them I will update the thread with what the problem (if any) was. By the time they're back in our hands, our robot will be complete and we'll be able to beat on them for a week or so to find out if they are fixed, and I'll update the thread then as well.

Now that there is v14 out, anyone here who still has their radios AND is currently having a problem, PLEASE post if it helps with either the robot continuing to run after a dropout, or the dropouts themselves. This will help IFI determine if their solution indeed will work across a number of different RC/OI/Radio/robot/motor/etc configurations, as well as other teams!

[Robert Cawthon]

We saw this in one of our test drives. We discovered that our antenna was folded down into the frame of the robot. This shielded the antenna from smooth communication with the controller. It just lost contact for short periods of time and came back. Check to see if your antenna is being blocked by parts of your robot.

[mtaman02]

I talked to IFI yesterday (more importantly an IFI guy that I usually see at my local competition - a good friend) and we went over some "possiblities" such as whats on the robot as far as motors and everything. I explained to him that we were using all of the 2007 stuff on a 2003 robot and he said that I may be tripping some breakers and thats why the OI loses the RC - I told him I doubt it since the robot A) Has not been used / touched in 3 - 4 years B) There was nothing ever wrong with the way it was wired and worked perfectly with all the 2003 gear. We ruled out any kind of interference that may make the 2007 stuff stop talking for brief periods of time. So as it stands to him everything is working fine and the OI - RC radio problem lies inside the robot and whatever modules that are in there to make it move.

He says that if all the Lights on the OI & RC are green at the time of Signal Loss that it is not actually the OI & RC that is losing the signal but a wiring problem that is making it lose the signal possibly all the breakers tripping at once. When I asked about me d/l the beta version aster code 14 he says that it won't solve my problem that its not software related.

I will probably try again with the 2007 stuff on another robot - maybe the 2001 robot since I know for a fact that one has not been touched at all and see if I'm getting the same problems. The 2007 stuff works great on tether just not on the radio. I will also try the 2006 radios if my old coaches let me and see what transpires from that. After I'm done doing that and see what happens I will call IFI again and hopefully someone else will answer and give me a different opinion. BTW the reason I'm not testing on the 2007 robot is b/c it's still getting the finishing touches and is not ready for the control system. Should I wait for the '07 robot to be finished or keep trying it on older robots that I know are Electrically & Pneumatically Sound?

[esquared]

From the IFI FAQ be careful when using this year's radios with older robots. Since they just released v14 of the master code with the most recent FIRST bulletin, you may want to use that for any older robot controller tests. It's not clear they've tested v14 with any older RC's, so if there's any trouble try using v13 instead.

Which IFI guy did you talk to?

I wouldn't assume the radios have an issue until you've used this year's controller with them, and the v14 update. IFI is turning our radios around in 1 day, so you've still got time to get them repaired if necessary. Using last year's radios with this year's controller also works perfectly fine.

[mtaman02]

Hrm let me be a little more thorough I used everything in '07 Kit - '07 Radios with the '07 controllers. Nothing was mixed matched unless you meant not to use the '07 Radios and '07 Controllers on a previous year robot.

[Jake M]

Based on what I've seen, I think that it is undoubtedly a hardware problem within the RC or the RC Radio itself (most likely the radio), for two reasons. First, I think we need to assume that the LEDs on the RC are working correctly, because if they're not then there's a hardware problem right there, in the RC. Second, if we assume that what the LEDs tell us is correct, then we know it's a hardware problem somewhere between the RC and the RC Radio, because when the signal loss occurs, the only LED that changes is the Radio State, which becomes red, indicating that there is no radio connected at all. From there, once you make sure that the cable connecting the two is in working condition its easy to understand how the problem has to be within the RC or the Radio Modem. And when you try using older modems and have no problems, you can eliminate the RC.

Anyway, to me the only logical conclusion is that the problem is within the radio itself, especially considering that the teams that have received new radios have had no problems at all.

And my last question was, do the teams who received new radios still notice that it takes several seconds for the radios to initially synchronize?

[roboticsguy1988]

Our team started experiencing problems again. We changed the configuration, per the third post located at IFI's Forums.

We found that when you make both perpendicular to the floor and away from metal objects they work perfect. But you get a metal object near one of them, or in there line of site they have problems at times. After talking to IFI, they had told us two things to read that post and follow what it said there, and to keep it away form metal objects. Now this seems weird considering most of the field is metal, and the rack in the center is all metal, and other robots are made out of metal. My guess is this year we are going to have problems on the field.