We are building the Everybot off season and followed the parts and build list diligently We have had major issues with the SPARK Max: we had followed the client hardware and online instructions/PDF, and finally had to swap them all out for new SPARK Max motor controllers to get them to respond….six days after school I will never get back. We got her driving and responding appropriately…EXCEPT the NEO. No faults showing but no movement on our intake motor to raise and lower arm…??? Ugh, does anyone have any thoughts??? Yes, we read the troubleshooting documentation, but maybe I am missing something? Any help would be massively appreciated.
Can you share a picture of the setup? With Neo’s, it’s important to have everything connected properly - all three power wires and the encoder cable.
Also, what do the LED’s on the Spark Max do when you’re trying to run the Neo?
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If you go to the Everybot website: 2022 RESOURCES | Everybot (118everybot.org)
you can join the Discord channel where there are a bunch of other people that have built the Everybot, they are very helpful.
I will check after school today and get back to you with specifics and picks…got lunch duty! Thanks for your prompt response talk soon.
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Can’t access discord at school will join afterwards…I really want this thing to work.
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Another thing to try is to disconnect the motor’s output, i.e., remove the chain from the gear on the motor, to make sure the motor is not stalled.
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Please do not post your entire help request in bold font…
Can you run the Spark MAX / NEO manually using the REV Hardware Client? Knowing this would help rule out any hardware or power wiring problems.
How is the roboRio communicating with the Spark MAX? Are you using CAN or PWM? If CAN, are you seeing any CAN bus errors or warnings on the Driver Station Console for the CAN ID of the Spark MAX?
Do you feel confident that you are making the correct calls in your program to instantiate the Spark MAX and send it appropriate commands to run?
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Rhonda,
I would also ask you to try the USB connection on the Sparkmax and the Rev Hardware Client. That should allow you to run the motor and that might give you a place to start troubleshooting. If you can control the motor than you know that that controller and the motor are both functional. The next step would be to look at control signals. If you are using the CAN bus, are you getting any CAN errors reported?
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Got it! Thanks…
We just used a MiniCim in place of the Neo
There’s a number of common mistakes I see for using the spark max. One that we are frequently guilty of is that if you are connected with a USB cable, you need to disconnect the motor controller from the roborio can network. Usually we just unplug the can cable on the motor controller if we’re only messing with one spark max, or at the roborio if we’re going to do it to several spark max. This is because the spark max isn’t allowed to listen to two different leaders (the roborio and the computer).
Some other common things:
- making sure the spark max is configured with a good CAN ID
- Andersons are fully engaged. I think neos seems more finicky to a bad Anderson connection than a brushed motor due to the nature of how a 3 phase motor works. I’m more and more liking the inline wagos that Rev sells now.
But yes I agree some pictures woule be useful. For some local teams, I and some other local mentors will do like a teams or zoom call so we can have video going through the set up as well.
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That is going to be my next move.
There is one thing with NEOs that we learned last year - the threaded holes are super shallow and if you use longer bolts (like 1/2 in), the motor will not be able to spin freely. Just try to give the intake a little spin (or even just the motor) with your hand to see if you can spin it freely.
I know, sounds stupid, but it caught us out at many occasions.
Thanks so much for all the information. That does give me a few places to start. I really appreciate it will take pics today…
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Checking that the main wires are red-red, black-black, and white-white is a critical step. They just don’t work if you swap a pair. Easy to do if you don’t have white Anderson housings 
I just realized you’re with 7418, which is local to me, haha! I will send a DM with some days I am available. I’m not terribly far away from channelview and can swing by to help
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Thanks so much. We had them all working when we left yesterday (without the NEO-we swapped it for a mini-CIM) but the gear box was catching, Fixed that this morning and one of the coaches updated the firmware and lost three spark maxes ugggghhhh. Re-swapped those out and now we are getting transmission errors and nothing is running in the REV client hardware…OMG. I would love some help if you can make it. I am here every school day until 5pm, but can meet up here at your convenience.
Everybot update…She is working!!! She is
quick, shoots she hangs (on second rung), but our hanger design was a little off so she could get knocked of …So a redo is underway. Did not get the NEO to run but I will try again later.
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Glad you posted and update!
I just sent a DM with my contact information. We can work out a time for me to come over and I’m sure I can help you get the NEO/Spark max issue sorted out/better understood