Robot Signal Light

Technical Electrical
1

I am probably sure everyone has seen this problem:

My electronics board works and the digital sidecar has the blinking. When the Robot Signal Light is plugged in, it doesn’t flash?

Set-Up:
(+)_________________________
(-)-------------------------|light___|

I bridged the Voltage into the side inputs and Ground into the center input.

I have plugged the light in both directions and I have used the old and new light.

Any insight, advice, commentary, hi-fives, comments, criticism, or any other way of saying “Hey try this” will be much appreciated.

Thank you in advanced and Happy Competition!

2

Did you check the wires or the connection from the wires to the sidecar and to the light itself?

3

I was thinking of that while typing the htread. I will try that on Monday next meeting.

Thank you for your input!

4

When the robot turns on, does the RSL just stay off? Does it rapidly blink as the side car does? We’ve found that sometimes the RSL has a little bit of lag behind the rest of the robot. Not entirely sure why, now that I think about it…

5

The light just refuses to turn on at all. This is perplexing!

6

Well, I would suggest, on Monday, taking a volt meter to the sidecar and checking if there is any output. (Or, if you don’t have one, you could [in a pinch I’ve done this a few times] take a christmas light and see if it lights up.) After that, I would suggest checking the continuity of the wires, as well as making sure the la and lb are jumped together, and that the neutral goes to the center. Then, make sure none of the wires are crossing each other where they are hooked up. After all that, try a different service light or another sidecar. If possible, test it on somewhere that you know works (Like a programming testbed perhaps?)

7

There’s a green LED light on the digital sidecar, right next to where you plugin the light. Make sure it’s blinking. It blinks exactly the same way the RSL blinks.

8

The light on the digital sidecar does blink, which is why I am confused, so I am going to check its voltage with a voltmeter and get to the bottom of this mystery gang.

Thanks agin for the input!

9

The green LFL (“little flashy light”) LED on the Digital Sidecar is connected across the same pins that the amber BFL (“big flashy light”) plugs into. If the green light blinks but the amber one does not, the second thing to check is the wiring between the connector and the light. You described it properly, but maybe there’s a broken wire you can’t see. Maybe you’ve accidentally caught some insulation instead of the conductor in the screw terminals of the BFL’s plug.

The first thing to check is the 12 volt power to the Digital Sidecar. If it’s not there, there could be just enough voltage sneaking in from the DIO module to make a few PWM outputs work, and to let the green LED flash dimly without being able to power the amber panel light.