Our climber backdrives very quickly. After the FMS disables our teleop code, we quickly fall to the ground. Would setting the Victor motor controllers that power our lifter to “Break Mode” help solve this?
Sorry
I mean “brake” not “break”
They will help mitigate it, yes, but do not think of brake mode as a magic “stay in place” switch.
Agreed. The drag of a motor in “brake mode” is more like a viscous force than a regular brake - like spinning a raw egg vs spinning a hard boiled egg.
We have a great way of teaching the rookies how this works. We have a CIM with a large timing belt sprocket on it (at least 3" diameter and 1" thick) that was pressed on back in our rookie year. We have students (and new mentors, too) spin the sprocket on the motor with the wires loose and with the wires touching. The difference is obvious; a few of them don’t really believe it until they are the only ones touching the motor (we keep an alligator clip handy for this contingency). You can also do this with a wheel and an 8mm keyed hub, or with an 8mm-round-to-half-inch-hex adapter and a wheel with a hex bore. The effect is clearer with a bare motor than with a gearbox.
We do this and it works nicely for us. The robot slowly decinds on disable. We are using a cim with 28:1 reduction. Sparks BTW go to non-brake mode on disable.
Or like this:
If you’re just looking for a way at the end of the match to keep the robot from taking damage I would say break would definitely help. But to be honest, the best way to keep from falling down at the wrong time at the end of a match, which I’ve seen way too many of some costing alliances elimination matches, is to use a simple ratchet you can buy from the hardware store and put on your drive bar. It may not always look professional depending on how you mount it but it works wonders for safety and security of that climb.