RS-775, RS-550, RS-540, or RS-395 Motor Experiences?

[Jim Meyer]

We haven't had terrific experiences with the Banebot motors in the past, mainly you can destroy one in about 10 seconds if you stall them.

Anyone willing to share their experiences?

[JVN]

The one year we used them (2007) we had horrible experiences. I'm hoping the RS-775 is better (especially because it seems like we've been given the 18V version, so it should be more robust @ 12V).

Definitely going to beat them up a bit and swap em out if they suck... Design is iterative, after all.

-John

[Mr.G]

I think we burned up about 15 of them in 2007 in our lift. That was really the last time we used them. They would only last a couple rounds. Most of the problem was in our design. There weren't many good choices for motors that year. Do not stall them or hold any power on them. They fry quickly.

I think we were using the 540's that year, 775's weren't allowed. I think I still have a box of burned up ones. hahah

[s_forbes]

I have had nothing but good experiences with them from our past robots, but in each of those applications great care was taken to make sure the motor would never go near stall conditions. They're pretty small and light, and they'll heat up pretty fast. Go easy on them!

[Chris is me]

I'm hoping we can use the single FP for all our "heavy lifting", leaving these motors for things like rollers or low-load slides.

Interesting constraints this year. I miss the Globe.

[Cory]

The 540's are terrible. 550's aren't bad.

[ebarker]

In the KOP was a data sheet with the specs for the motors. The numbers are different than the numbers on the motor data sheet at www.usfirst.org/frc/kitofparts

significantly different. I'm not sure why that is.

[Jared Russell]

Relevant thread:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=88531

Hopefully the 18V RS-775s are up to the task.

[Kit Gerhart]

We've used 540 and 550 motors for rollers, and they both work ok, as long as you use them as intended. By "as intended," I mean not loading them to less than about 1/2 their no-load rpm except for very short periods of time.

[DMetalKong]

Has anybody ever had an experience using any of the banebots motors in a drivetrain before? The operations conditions are much different than for a conveyor, etc.

[quinxorin]

In Lunacy we used two BaneBots motors for our belted collector and loved them (or at least I did). We did blow one motor in the offseason, but that was after driving it for many, many, many hours at demos. Overall, though, they had all the torque we needed for a subsystem and were quite small.

I doubt anyone has ever used them in their drive train.

What I would watch, though, is the gearboxes for them. In 2009 there was no issue with the BaneBots motors, but in 2010 we used a BB planetary gearbox on our FP motor (very high ratio, something like 144:1 I think) and it kept tearing itself to pieces. Who knows if they changed their tolerances or if the GBs simply aren't as good for the FP.

[craigboez]

Given that we're only allowed a total of 4 BaneBots motors, is there a compelling reason to use any of the three smaller motors? If my team is going to order some additional motors before finalizing any of our subsystem designs, is there any reason to order a motor other than the RS-775?

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by craigboez

Given that we're only allowed a total of 4 BaneBots motors, is there a compelling reason to use any of the three smaller motors? If my team is going to order some additional motors before finalizing any of our subsystem designs, is there any reason to order a motor other than the RS-775?

The 550 and 775 are similar in power, but far different in weight. For a system that isn't loading the motor much, the 550 could be a better choice. We are making this decision on two specific mechanisms. We're prepared to switch to 775s if necessary, but will try out the lighter motors first.

[jason701802]

Does anyone know when the P60 gearboxes for the 300 series motors will be available or somewhere else to get some?

[Kevin Sevcik]

2007 was a bad year for banebots, since it was their introductory year in FRC. I think problems were inevitable. The transmissions were clearly not quite right for the kind of abuse we put on things.

Since then, we've had good luck using the BB motors. They're small and light and work just fine if you don't abuse them. They're not CIMs, but then, neither are the FPs or anything else. I think people just had a bad experience back in '07 and haven't given them another chance.

As for tearing up a 144:1 transmission... run a quick calculation of how much torque you'd get out of that. It's not really that surprising. I think the only fault BB has is that they offer gear reductions that are clearly only for speed reduction, because they'll explode under load.