Victor with Java on roboRIO

[AJWasserman]

Hey everyone,

Our team is revamping our T-Shirt tank with a roboRIO and some fresh code but we are having some problems running the Victors. We wrote the program exactly as we had for our 2016 bot in Java with the only difference being that the 2016 bot used TalonSRX's.

For declaring the motors we tried using the general SpeedController class, the Victor class, and tried using a RobotDrive class as well. We still haven't been able to get any of them to run. We just used a basic motorName.set(1) for the object but when the command containing it is running we still saw no movement or change in the signal LED on the Victor. Is there something different we need to do for the Victors since they are PWM instead of the TalonSRX's CAN bus?

When we replaced the Victors with TalonSRX's on the tank and updated the code accordingly the motors drove fine but we would still like to use Victors for it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and feel free to let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks!

[RyanN]

Are the Victor's status LED flashing orange/amber the entire time? If it works for the Talons, but not the Victors, then it's almost guaranteed to be a bad Victor (unlikely), bad cable (unlikely), or bad connection between the cable and Victor (very likely).

Victors are notorious for being difficult to insert the PWM cable straight. Make sure your pins are straight and try to insert the PWM connector housing straight down. If that doesn't work, try pushing it at an angle on the flat side to move the pins side to side. Don't force it down.

I've had times where I'm convinced that the Victor/cable/code was bad, and it turns out that it's the connector not seated properly.

[AJWasserman]

@RyanN I appreciate the response. We tried with 2 different roboRIOs, 3 different Victors, and multiple PWM cables and made sure they were firmly seated in their connectors and still had no luck with the situation so we are convinced it isn't hardware but the code is just basic drive code unless there is some victor specific part we are missing.

[TylerHarmon]

Interesting.

That code sounds very simple, so it probably is not the problem, unless it is a simple class name or usage error.

If you haven't already, check to make sure that all components involved have the latest firmware, and double check the Victor's ID in the RoboRIO Web Configuration Tool. Make sure that the ID listed there is the same that you are using in your code, and while you're at it, update the firmware.

Also, try the troubleshooting section on page 4/5 in this pdf. Also, double check the electric wiring and make sure that the transmitter and receiver are powered to ON.

Good luck!