Lately,every time we run our robot, the radio keeps rebooting, whether it be during training the drivers or on the field. It just cutos out, all the lights go off, and it restarts. Any help would be appreciated
Thank you in advance
Do you have it plugged into the 500mA port or the 2A on the VRM?
I have it plugged in to the 2 amp on the vrm
Good, 12v 2Amp is correct.
Your symptoms sound like a typical loose power connection to the radio.
Those usually happen at the connector on the radio, or the connections at the VRM.
Inspect both connections VERY CLOSELY!
If needed, a little hot glue holds the connector at the radio fairly nicely. DO NOT over glue it. At some point you will want to remove it again. At the VRM, make certain the leads are fully seated in the connectors.
Another option is to switch over to using PoE. It works wonders.
Are you powering it through the barrel plug, or through power over Ethernet? Does it cut out when you juggle the barrel plug? The wires at the 12v/2a connector on the vrm? The 12v wires peeing the vrm? The vrm wires at the PDP? The fuses on the PDP?
We are using the barrel plug, it cuts out at random tines, when it gets close to the spring, in the middle of the climb, or other random times
After a nightmare series of radio drops during finals 2 and 3 at Greater Boston, we’ve switched to using PoE and the barrel. There is literally no reason not to. Making your own PoE cable takes about 15 minutes (even without a crimper).
Full details are here (hat-tip to Rob Heslin).
I’d suggest running through the whole string of power going to the radio starting at making sure the barrel jack is secure and ending at the battery terminals
Throw some electrical tape around the radio side to secure the cable and then some long-ways around the connector itself.
PoE is the way to go. If FIRST weren’t such Debbie Downers about radio modification, I would just solder on a PowerPole connector to the radio directly 
By the way, if you do POE and you power your POE injector from the VRM, you still have single-points of failure for …
The VRM connection on the PDP
Yellow 20Amp fuse protecting VRM and PCM
The connection on the VRM from the PDP
A short on anything being powered by the VRM
In many cases, the yellow fuse is overlooked. A loose fuse, not well-seated in the PDP is the same as a loose wire. By well-seated, I mean that it is actually hard to remove with your fingers. It should not spring back out when pressed in.
Greg McKaskle
Like this?
http://i.imgur.com/XkKXAMUl.jpg
(Found this while diagnosing an unrelated issue in the robot. Would you believe this passed inspection?!)
To the OP,
Take a look at your driver station logs. If the robot voltage is dipping before the robot shuts off, it sounds like you have a loose wire in the main power wires (i.e. between the battery and PDP). Try to wiggle every connection from the battery leads to the main breaker to the PDP. If it moves when you wiggle it, it is too loose. If nothing, it’s probably a loose wire in from the PDP to the VRM. Other people have listed all of the connections to check there. If you can see copper in any of the Weidmuller ports, you should re-cut the wire and try again. Also, if you have anything in the other 12V/2A port, you need to remove it (it’s not legal). If you have something in one of the 12V/500mA ports, try removing that and see if it helps.
I am floored that this passed inspection. With a little luck, things do slip through the cracks it seems.
PLEASE SEE AL’s FOLLOW UP TO MY STATEMENT BELOW, I MISSED R71, I AM INCORRECT HERE.
I checked the rules manual, and though it is possible I missed it, I see no requirement that the power to the radion must go through the barrel connector. In fact, it does allow for PoE, but I see no restriction to soldering the power directly to the radio’s circuit board.
R51. The Wireless Bridge power must be supplied directly by the 12V 2A output of a CTR Electronics
Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) (P/N: am-2857, 217-4245) and must be the only load
connected to those terminals.
And the Blue section:
Note that this wiring is different from the wiring for the radio used in 2015, but is identical to the wiring from 2016. When using a 2015 VRM
with the OM5P-AN or OM5P-AC radio, the radio should be connected as
described above, not to the terminals labeled “Radio”.
Note that this prohibits using any active POE Injector device to power the
radio, but does not prohibit using any PASSIVE CONDUCTORS to inject
the VRM power into an Ethernet cable plugged into the radio port labeled
“18-24v POE”.
Making that modification required modifying the radio beyond what’s allowed by R71.
R71. The Driver Station software, roboRIO, Power Distribution Panel, Pneumatics Control Modules, Voltage Regulator Modules, RSL, 120A breaker, motor controllers, relay modules, Wireless Bridge, and batteries shall not be tampered with, modified, or adjusted in any way (tampering includes drilling, cutting, machining, rewiring, disassembling, etc.), with the following exceptions:
So that would be a big “NO”.
Thanks Al, I was hoping you would join in. And, thanks for pointing out the EXACT rule that prohibits this. I had a feeling my search was inadequate and thus I missed the part that was specific to this issue.
I used the search phrase “radio” and not “wireless bridge”, thus I missed it.