We are getting ready to build a swerve drive however right now we are in dilemma between choosing a SRX Magnetic Encoder or a CANcoder. We have four SRX encoders at hand however we are not sure if we should buy CANcoders or not. We want insight and help to decide which option should we go with. Will getting CANcoder increase our performance? Team 8561 CARTESIAN Robotics
What motors/controllers are you planning to use? Falcon, Spark Max, or something brushed?
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What motor/motor controller are you using?
If you are using a falcon cancoder makes connecting the encoder easy as you just need power/can to it instead of running an SRX encoder back to the roborio.
If you are using a neo/spark max, there is new firmware coming that will allow the SRX encoder to be connected directly to the spark max.
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We are using falcons
What other drawbacks are there to using srx encoders with falcons
You have to connect them to the roborio as the falcons don’t have connections for external encoders
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The issue with the Mag Encoders with falcons is just wiring. It’s tricky to get them to the Rio without a breakout board. Just would require some soldering, and it takes some skill to do that reliably. The TTB encoders is going to be much simpler to wire in imo.
The CANcoder is a little cleaner to set up. It will also be a little easier to program because that’s the most common setup.
If you are fully bought in to the CTRE system, I think there are some features in Phoenix Pro that will make things potentially slightly better. I’d also probably recommend a CANivore if you were running this setup. That said, I’m not sure that this will give any huge performance increases, but time will tell.
Thank you for your support, your reply were really helpful.
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If you are running cancoders and falcons, I would recommend running a Canivore. Otherwise it takes extra work to keep the canbus load down.
Wiring the SRX to the Rio is not that hard, but it is tedious to get it right. Cancoders are definitely easier in that respect. Once wired they are about equal assuming you are seeding the position to the Falcon and then using the internal Falcon encoder. The SRX read to the Rio is probably faster, but you still have to send it to Falcon over canbus.
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