Spark maxs lights are not synced

hi, all of our spark maxs lights (besides 2) are not in sync, does someone have an idea what is the problem?

Hmmm. Can you explain a bit more about what you are expecting, and why?

In general, spark max LED’s will be different to indicate different statuses.

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Especially the why please. I don’t know of a reason they need to “blink in sync” other than it looks nice. If it’s the colors don’t all match that’s a different problem

I expect all the lights to blink at the same time, not the same color

Why do you expect that?

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Why do you expect this to be? Is it spelled out in the manual that this is the expected behavior or you’re assuming if they all boot at the same time their blinks should match?

Per the user manual about LED status codes there is no mention of the blinks syncing across controllers, just what the lights mean. I don’t know that it’s a guarantee they “sync” because I can’t find something that says this is true or not.

We think that it maybe causes our motors to stop randomly

I’m not sure I agree that non-synchronized blink patterns is a cause of motors not running.

What’s the actual issue you’re trying to solve? The motors stopping when you do not expect them to stop?

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I’m not sure about it, but it is the first time it happend to me, till now the blinks were synced

yes, it stops for a split second every time

Alright. I agree changes in the pattern could be a symptom that goes along with motors stopping.

In general - think like a scientist. Form a hypothesis about why the motor is stopping. Design an experiment to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Repeat until you have found something you can fix.

Some specific examples of hypothesis:

Is there any loose wiring? For an experiment: If you tug lightly on any of the connections, can you cause the motor controller to turn off or reset?

Is the battery fully charged? Check a different battery, or check the battery’s voltage.

Is there a software issue? If you run the motor from the Rev Hardware Client (not from the roboRIO), will it spin consistently?

Is the problem specific to one motor, or one motor controller? If you swap motor controllers and motors, does the problem “travel” with one problematic motor controller? or does it travel with one problematic motor?

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In addition to that awesome list, REVs troubleshooting guides point to some things you can do on the code side to debug as well like get raw BusVoltages and etc

I’d also look for other errors in DS or the RioLog when the glitching happens. It doesn’t sound like the main errors REV points out which are Gate Driver Fault and Sensor Fault because those will change the LED colors.

Stuttering isn’t one of their covered items sadly.