Talon to Talon SRX Necessary?

[bman12three4]

Our team has 4 Talons that we use for the drivetrain, and victors that we use for other motors. I saw the new motor controllers and wondered if it is a good idea to upgrade, or if what we have right now is fine. We probably would not use any special features like built in closed-loop control or can, so those features don’t matter that much. The Victor SP looked like a good option to upgrade to as well.

[asid61]

Our team has 4 Talons that we use for the drivetrain, and victors that we use for other motors. I saw the new motor controllers and wondered if it is a good idea to upgrade, or if what we have right now is fine. We probably would not use any special features like built in closed-loop control or can, so those features don’t matter that much. The Victor SP looked like a good option to upgrade to as well.

If you don’t want to use the CAN functionality, the REV SPARK appears to offer as much as the Victor SP for a lower price. The Victor does offer a more compact package though if you have the money.

[adciv]

I’d go with the VictorSP. They’re basically the same as the Talon but with better packaging and mounting options.

[Joe_Ross]

If you don’t want to use the CAN functionality, the REV SPARK appears to offer as much as the Victor SP for a lower price. The Victor does offer a more compact package though if you have the money.

I would assert that there is no reason to change from a Talon to a Spark or Victor SP that justifies the cost.

[GeeTwo]

I would assert that there is no reason to change from a Talon to a Spark or Victor SP that justifies the cost.

+1 - apart from the form factor and weight (both minor improvements), there is no real difference. We plan to continue running our SRs on competition robots until they change the rules, and on non-competition robots until they release the smoke.

[ahartnet]

I would assert that there is no reason to change from a Talon to a Spark or Victor SP that justifies the cost.

^^. Unless you want to use a particular feature, or have a particular footprint to meet, there’s very little reason to switch from existing motor controllers.

However, when I’m purchasing new motor controllers for a new robot, below is the model I intend to follow:
I will tend to use the VictorSPs for the drivetrain motors based off of the cross the road electronics testing. It appears to offer the least resistance between the battery and the motor. But this difference is not something I’d expect to be perceivable in most cases.

I will use the Spark for general purpose manipulators. It’s the cheapest of the ones that I trust, allows for forward/reverse limit switches, and is a reasonable footprint. In 2016s case, we used it to extend our collect, collect the boulders, actuate our shooting mechanism, and actuate our CDF manipulators.

I will use the Talon SRX if we have a manipulator that we want to have any kind of closed loop control/sensor feedback on. In 2016’s case that was our flywheel.