Compresser stoped working?

[Brandon_L]

We were fireing up our robot today, to test a feature on our robot, and the compresser wont start. We tryed resetting the robot and the OI and nothing worked. We think its something with the spike/RC board. Please help!

~2495

[NathanMc]

Did you check the fuse on the spike, it may be blown.

[Brandon_L]

Wouldn't that turn th spike off? All of them seem to be working fine.

Spikes working, we hooked the compresser directly to the battery and it worked fine.....

The light on the spike is on, BTW.

And for the record, Is the compresser 20 or 30 amps?

[EricH]

Compressor is 20 A. Try putting a 20A breaker into the fuse area on the compressor Spike only. (This will allow you to run after the initial draw of current...)

[roborat]

The air compressor uses a 20 amp fuse. Did you check the PWM cable? Make sure it is pushed in both places, the spike and the controller. Switch out the spike and see if another works. Just keep trying things until you find the problem. You can even check the pressure switch to make sure it is plugged in right,

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by EricH

Compressor is 20 A. Try putting a 20A breaker into the fuse area on the compressor Spike only. (This will allow you to run after the initial draw of current...)

As of now it goes like this to the spike:

Battery>20amp fuse>spike w/ 20 amp fuse in it>compresser.

[Brandon_L]

Just so you guys know, we DID have this working. It just quit on us today.

Also, if the fuse is blown, will the light on the spike still be on?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Brandon_L

As of now it goes like this to the spike:

Battery>20amp fuse>spike w/ 20 amp fuse in it>compresser.

Fuse or breaker? There is a difference. (The spike has a 20A fuse in it; the breaker panel should not.)

[TubaMorg]

Originally Posted by Brandon_L

Just so you guys know, we DID have this working. It just quit on us today.

Also, if the fuse is blown, will the light on the spike still be on?

Yes the light on the spike will still be on if the fuse is blown. The light reflects input from the PWM cable. As others have mentioned, the compressor spike fuse needs to be replaced by a 20 amp breaker. The starting current for the compressor is too high for a 20 amp fuse to last very long. A breaker has a built in delay that allows momentary current spikes (pun) as seen when starting up the compressor.

[Matt C]

The fuse can work for a while, but I'd suggest replacing the fuse with a 20A breaker on the compressor Spike ANYWAY. If this solves your problem, great. If it doesn't, you get to go back to troubleshooting.

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by EricH

Fuse or breaker? There is a difference. (The spike has a 20A fuse in it; the breaker panel should not.)

Really?

Were using the same thing from the breaker pannel. The 20 amp things. Arnt they fuses?

What should the breaker have?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Brandon_L

Really?

Were using the same thing from the breaker pannel. The 20 amp things. Arnt they fuses?

What should the breaker have?

Nope. Those are breakers. So you should be fine that way...The fuse is the yellow thing that you pull out of the Spike to replace it with the breaker.

[Matt C]

If the thing in your Spike is yellow and looks like the one on the right (sometimes there are even a few scorch marks), your fuse has blown and you should replace it with a breaker (black "box" with 20A written on the top). If it looks like the one on the left, you should still replace it with a breaker, but your problem most likely resides elsewhere. If you are already using a breaker, something else is incorrect. (check PWM cables, power leads, programming).

[de_]

I believe if the fuse in the spike is gone, there will be no light on the spike.

If there is no light, check 1) there is 12v coming into the spike, then check the fuse and if still no light, replace the spike.

If the light on the spike is orange, the spike is not talking to the RC (PWM connector issues). Reseat them. We hot glue them in.

If the light is red, then the RC has not requested the compressor to turn on. Did you guys accidently delete the 2 lines of code in user_routines.c that turns it on ?

If the light is green (RC telling spike to turn on the compressor) but the compressor didn't go on:
Check there is 12 volts on the output terminals of the spike (ie compressor wires). If there isn't, replace the spike. If there is, then the compressor appears to be dead. As a last resort test, connect compressor directly to 12v (ie don't use robot warning harness) and see if it goes on. If it doesn't, its dead!

As a last resort test of the spike, just swap another in.