Broken programming port on RC

[ay2b]

Originally Posted by Mr. Freeman

I've never really understood people's obsessions with tightening the screws on those cables.

I've found that the solution to this, at least in some cases, is to remove the screws from the cables.

On the other hand, I firmly believe that you SHOULD screw in the cable that connects the radio to the RC.

[whitetiger0990]

If the our programming cable is somewhere where it can be tripped over, I make sure to wrap it around something. When it gets pulled it tightened around whatever it's wrapped around instead of putting a whole lot of stress on the port. Several years ago one had been broken, so I've made sure to keep it more protected and away from direct strain.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by ay2b

On the other hand, I firmly believe that you SHOULD screw in the cable that connects the radio to the RC.

I'd normally agree. I did just visited a team that ripped out their radio port connector though...

In several cases of destroyed RC DB9 connectors that I've seen, the culprit wasn't screwed in connectors, but just a bad angle that put a lot of side pressure on the connector. For instance, when the robot took off the cable was stretched back lengthwise over the RC and the connector was yanked up and back.

In all cases I'd recommend strain reliefs for DB9 cables, power lines, PWM-style connectors, pig-tails, etc. connected to delicate parts of the RC.

[d25inferno]

Hey guys although we got our programming port working for the regionals we believe it is malfunctioning again. When we try to connect w. our robot we get an error message on EasyC that our programming light isn't yellow when it is. Th computer can "see" that the RC is connect, it just cant access the RC since it thinks the button wasnt pressed. If any teams have had this problem before and know a solution Team 2554 would be much obliged. Thanks!

[tdlrali]

Connect your RC to your laptop, and open up the terminal window in ifi-loader (or any other serial terminal). Hit the reset button a bunch of times, then put the robot controller into programming mode (hold the button). Do you see an "IFI>" prompt printed to the terminal?