Can't Control Falcon 500 in Phoenix Tuner X

Technical CAN
1

Hi! We’re trying to test a Falcon 500 in Phoenix Tuner X, but the motor does not respond. We’ve recently updated the Phoenix Framework on the computer, and we’ve successfully updated the firmware on the Falcon 500, so we know there’s no connection issue and I’m fairly certain it’s not a software version mismatch/incompatibility. (I think it’s just a button or switch in this new software somewhere I’m missing.) We also tried running the DriverStation at the same time and Enabling the bot in Teleop mode (because that was required for Phoenix Tuner to control motors for us last year), but we’re not able to get any movement on the motor at all.

Any ideas? Am I forgetting something? I’m not finding an answer in the CTRE docs.

Thanks for your time.

2

I can’t get the motor to move using %VBus or velocity control. I do get the plots perfectly when the robot is controlling the motor. I, too, tried everything and am out of ideas.

3

I should add that we have the motors working just fine with Java code. That confirms there’s no wiring problem or defect with the motor (or TalonFX).

4

If the motor is connected in anyway to a roboRIO (indirectly via CANivore or directly), you need to enable the robot in the Driver Station. This is due to the FRC Lock safety feature preventing motors from enabling without receiving an enable signal from the DS.

5

Besides making sure to enable via the Driver Station, also double-check that you have the appropriate variant of firmware on the FX - v5 if not using Pro or Pro if you’ve licensed the device.

If you’re still stuck, email us at [email protected] with a self-test snapshot taken while trying to drive the motor. We can use that to help diagnose what’s going on.

1 Like
6

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. There is a button for “Phoenix 5” that has to be pressed in order for the non-Pro firmware to be selected and installed. We overlooked that the first time we updated the firmware. We can now control our Falcon 500s with Phoenix Tuner X. :slight_smile:

7

Which “button”, I can’t find reference. It isn’t clear to me from this what was the actual culprit

  • Do the Falcons always need to be in Teleop? Can they be in test mode with no code?
  • Do you have to load in non-pro firmware?
  • One or both of the above to control from Phoenix tuner X.