NEO 550 killing Spark Max

Technical Motors
1

Hi, my team is having a major issue because one of our NEOs 550 we are using for our intake just killed 2 Spark Max.
By killing I mean they are no longer powering on with either a PHD or even with the USB-C Cable. I am hoping they are savable but I am hesitant on trying testing with more Sparks for now, the Spark Max is connectede to our PDH with a 30AMP resistance and using the factory default settings with the only additions of setting the smartcurrentlimit to 20.

The thing is, we are using 2 of this NEO 550s motors, one works completly fine and the other is the one causing issues, they have the exact same set up, including a 1:4 (I believed) gearbox.
Any help greatly appreciated!

2
5 Likes
3

If you haven’t tried putting them in recovery mode yet, I would give that a shot first – I’ve managed to re-alive a couple of mysteriously unresponsive Spark Maxes that way.

If that doesn’t work, I wonder if it could be related to this issue which I’ve seen pop up once or twice before. (A Spark Max killed this way seems to be unrecoverable, unfortunately).

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4

I will try to put them in recovery mode tomorrow, and will also check for the motor’s short circuit which it most likely has, either way thanks for the help!

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5

It has always been a rule of thumb for us that if we lose a motor controller or a motor for any of the NEO 550 or NEO, we will replace both the motor and the controller. We have lost so many units due to this issue.

6

Are your mounting screws into the neo 550 too long? if they go too far into the motor, they can cause shorts.

7

Even if you use the correct length screws, the position of the hardware internally in the NEO 550 can occasionally be out of spec and short to the screw because of it. (Ask me how I know)

8

I am not sure but I will give it a check

9

I tested it and in fact it has a short circuit and I just tried reviving them in recovery mode but no luck, so I will assume they are pretty ded.

10

Although there is one thing am confused&curious, I don’t know if I missed a stepr or something but while trying to find the short circuit it would only appeared (on the blamed motor) and in the white cable of the encoder cable. I am just wondering if this is enough to confirm the short circuit.

11

Luckily for you, there’s now a spark max replacement available you can use.

2 Likes
12

Appreciate it, will look forward into it! :smiley:

13

I don’t know if I should open a new topic but we are also having one other issue with yet another one of our NEOs 550, this time, with the exact same set up, for some reason when the motoro is turned on for lets say 5 seconds at half speed, it randomly starts making white smoke from the motor, I have checked and there is no signs of a short circuit (like the other one) it works with no issues just the added featured of mysterius white smoke