Just checking to make sure I didn’t miss it a rule requiring a specific firmware version for the PDP. I found them for the roboRIO, PCM, Talon SRX, and Jaguars, but not the PDP. Did I miss it?
Did a document search for both “firmware” and “PDP” and found no requirements.
Since the PDP isn’t an output/active device and can’t impact robot performance due to software, that’s likely why there isn’t a rule.
As far as I’m concerned the PDP doesn’t have firmware. It has no computing power whatsoever. The CAN wire leads go into a terminator.
As of Team Update 2015-01-13, there is a required firmware version:
R61 The PDP CAN interface must be connected to the CAN-bus on the roboRIO (either directly or daisy-chained via another CAN-bus device).
The firmware on the PDP must be updated to at least version 1.37.
(The highlighted text was added on Tuesday.)
The fact it can respond to can traffic means it has computing power. If First requires a specific firmware, it will be on there before you get your inspection sticker. Your (and mine BTW) does not matter. :]
The TalonSRX firmware version requirement for TalonSRX’s hooked up via PWM (R41) is going to be a bit of a pain for inspectors. How are they supposed to verify it without moving wires around? Or were all TalonSRX’s distributed to teams firmware version 0.28 or newer? I wonder if this might be a good Q&A question.
See pages 12-14 of this document Talon SRX User’s Guide. They pretty much directly answer your questions.
My what now? haha
I always thought that the terminator was just a resistor to stop the CAN circuit. Guess I’ll need to do more research.
The terminator is there to end the circuit, but before it goes through the resistor is goes through the board and connects the board to the CAN circuit. This is what allows the roboRIO to sense current for each of the motors.
We tried to update the firmware on our pdp,but NI won’t let is into our accounts. We’ve tried several accounts and can’t log in to any of them to update the firmware. Any ideas?
Never mind. We found that you simply have to sign in as "admin ".
The PDP can send current sensing data back, there was an update to it regarding some false readings. It actually has quite a bit of computing things that it does.
Yep, that’s mentioned under “Updating CAN Node Firmware”
http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/4485/m/24166/l/216217-updating-and-configuring-pneumatics-control-module-and-power-distribution-panel