Transciever problems

[Bergmjs]

Hello,
I just finished doing all the wiring for our robot and we plugged in the radios on the robot controller and the OI to test it out and theres a problem. The transciever on the OI side blinks "Transmitting", but the one on the robot side blinks "Standby". Also, the robot controller reads "Packet Loss/Searching" on the radio status LED. So to bypass this, we tethered it using a standard female-female serial cable (not the kit one) and it still didn't work. The OI didn't recieve any power over the tether, the transievers still blinked on even though they're supposed to deactivate when tethered. All the wiring seems to work as all the components are all blinking orange in unison.

Also, what are the default mappings for all the PWN outputs?

Thanks,
1687

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Bergmjs

...we tethered it using a standard female-female serial cable (not the kit one) and it still didn't work.

The red tether cable is not a standard female-female serial cable. That's why it didn't work.

If you have never connected the OI with the RC using the red tether cable from the kit, the RC will not know what your team number is and you will get exactly the symptoms you are seeing. The solution is to use the red tether cable.

[dtengineering]

The latest Team Update from FIRST indicates that there are some radio problems which IFI is working out, and which are also discussed here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ighlight=radio

As for the tethering, remember that you have to use the red cable to make a tether connection. You can extend it using black serial cables which will allow you to do a little test drive without the radio, just remember to anchor the cable on the robot so it doesn't pull on the tether plug of the RC if your robot goes a little farther or faster than the cable will allow.

We expereience some glitching with our new radios on Saturday, switched to last year's and everything seemed to work out okay. Not much help if you don't have old radios to fall back on, though.

Jason

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

...remember to anchor the cable on the robot so it doesn't pull on the tether plug of the RC if your robot goes a little farther or faster than the cable will allow.

It took me a couple of tries just now to read that correctly. I was about to say something about not securing the tether, but you're talking about fastening the cable to the frame of the robot so that there's never any tension put on the tether connector. That's good advice. But also remember to make it easy for the other end of the connection to come apart so you don't end up breaking the OI connector -- or, worse, dragging the OI along the field -- if the robot pulls the cable tight.

[dtengineering]

Yes, you read that correctly... we had some fun at GTR a couple years ago when one of the test drivers got just a little bit excited... the tether cable was screwed in tight to the RC, and as the robot drove away it ripped the tether port almost completely out of the RC.

That left us able to compete, but unable to pre-charge our pneumatics or do any further testing in the pits. Thankfully we got some help from our friends on 1241 and the IFI folks, and were back up and running by the end of the day.

Lesson learned... lesson shared.

Jason