Falcon 500 Followers Lagging Behind Masters?

Technical Motors
#1

Hello,

Currently, I’m trying to do a simple DriveStraight program, and I basically copied this example program but using 4 motors (adding 2 followers) rather than 2: https://github.com/CrossTheRoadElec/Phoenix-Examples-Languages/blob/master/Java%20Talon%20FX%20(Falcon%20500)/DriveStraight_AuxIntegratedSensor/src/main/java/frc/robot/Robot.java.

However, as I try to run the code, there seemed to be a clicking noise — upon further investigation through SmartDashboard outputs, it seems that the follower motors have a smaller motor output than the master masters for a split second before they catch up. This may correlate with the clicking sounds (will post video once I have access to robot) - not sure if this is due to some kind of delay or anything. I’m thinking that my configuration went wrong somewhere; here’s my code:

LINK MIX: 2 URLs are contained (using this since new users can’t put more than 2 links in a post :slight_smile:

It’s also interesting to note that teleop seems to work fine in which we’re using arcade drive through DifferentialDrive. Has anyone run into a similar issue? Did I do something wrong in configuring the followers?

Lemme know if you need any moire info, and thanks in advance :).

#2

In teleop, you’re using the DifferentialDrive. In autonomous, are you directly calling left/right motor set? That could explain the clicking sound, and you should also get error messages related to “Motor Safety”. Once you create a DifferentialDrive, it enables motor safety and wants you to call its drive methods. If you directly command the motor, DifferentialDrive thinks that you forgot to call it, and it stops the motor. The result is a clicking stop and go. You can fix that by calling the DifferentialDrive feed() method to tell it that all’s fine, you’re controlling the motors outside of it.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks so much, it worked perfectly!