about a couple of years ago the team i was on went to a little event held in another high school, brought the robot along everything was fine, go to pack up the OI and its corresponding gear and some how the DB9 cable going from the modem to the OI nearly ripped off the DB9 from the OI. Ok manage to rig it so it works temporarily. 2 years later robot is still in use but no OI! why? because the DB9 connector (for the radio) came off the OI. Ok I bring it to a friend at work who knows ALOT about circuitry and how to solder. He replaced the DB9 for me and fixed any damaged circuitry to the board.
My problems are as follow now:
The search / TX light no longer comes on / blinks only the Power on and No Data Radio comes on!
no power to the modem
What was Done!
Number 1 happened before when the original DB9 Connector was accidentally torn off and assumed by changing it it would work again.
Number 2 after I got the OI back from my friend I hooked the modem up and checked it - No power to the OI I did a couple of things to check this.
1a Tested for continuity between the DB9 connector on the board and the circuits it led to on the back of the board -ALL OK
1b Tested for continuity between the DB9 Cable and the ciruits that it led to on the back of the board - ALL OK
1c Radio Modem was working before all this and after all this and has not been in anyone elses hands but mine since the repair of the OI.
Im gonna guess that maybe the Search / TX light on the OI is burnt out - I doubt it but thats the only thing I can come up with esp. since the fuse works fine.
Any suggestions. on that issue
for the modem I can only assume that maybe one or more of the circuits on the OI may not be making proper contact
Any suggestions. on that issue
Does anyone know where I can get blueprints for this board other then Innov. FIRST / EWave. I doubt theyll give me the papers =(
in the socal regional due to issues with space our RC was left exposed and in one of our matches the robot tipped to its side and cause the rc to hit the ground… the ds9 cables for the radio were on the side that hit the ground. it imediately broke the connector off with a bunch of exposed pin connections. so our robot didnt function for a whiles. i took the rc home and soldered a ribbon cable with the matching connector terminal .(radio shack and other places u can get one, tho in particular i got mine from an old old old pc… so look there too) tested continutiy and it checked out pretty good, tho i believe that one of the pins over layed a lil in the solder so it cause to not start up the radio and gave me a blinking red light for that on radio, broke apart the solder and fixed and it was good as new(tip: dont test at solder points test at the terminals) i dunno how useful this story is for you. but i do have another
when we received our 2004 parts i remember trying them out with old ds9 cables that worked (tested out later on an older robot) and the cables simply didnt function with the 2004 gear and i checked for the visa versa and it was proven like wise. so make sure about the cables and the year of cables your using they have seem to vary with first and functionality. i guess there different some how though i dont know how. i also tested this out by just getting a normal serial cable for my pc and the frc stuff didnt function with it so check your cables even if there good. there tricky
Plus i have a few more test for you
2002 and 2001 are very alike if not identical so, trade in radios and or OI’s and even cables and trial and error all of these to make sure what part is truly the problem(you may be suprised but with less headaces)
(im not sure if u did this or not) dont just test the continuty from radio to OI but instead check continuty also from pin to pin, if there is bridge in there some where even one u cant see it might fry the gear or might just make it malfunction, as good as anyone is with a solder they can always mess up
4.You can break it apart again and build up again like i did;)
hmms the peeps at Innovation First are awesome they even have program to fix your FRC stuff or trade it if im not mistaken (at cost of course) but 2001 stuff is very iffy several years later, and i dont expect them to give you blue prints but u should review the manual for 2001 or 2002 anywhere u cna find it to find out exactly what the Oi is telling you and if it can truly coencide with your setup
:eek: