Answered: Cortex Port Broken

VEX V5 Technical Support OFFICIAL Tech Support
1

Hi, I think I know the answer to my problem but I wanted to get an official technical response.

So we were practicing with our robot today when all of a sudden our drive started curving. What was interesting was that the problematic motor only moved in one direction. We’d had this problem before with the motor controllers as well.

The problematic motor was in port 10 of the Cortex Microcontroller so we figured that we broke the internal motor controller that is in ports 1 and 10 of the Microcontroller. We tested the motor in a normal port (2-9) and it worked fine, similarly we tested a new motor in port and had the same problem.

Questions:
Is this issue fixable if we send the Microcontroller in?
Is my analysis of the situation correct?
If we order a new Microcontroller for our competition (February 25th) and the Microcontroller can be fixed, can we get reimbursed for our purchased Microcontroller?

Thanks for any help you can give us!

2

SweetMochi,

Very good questions.

  1. Yes, **most **of the time this units are able to be repaired.

  2. Yes, it sounds correct. An H-Bridge inside your Cortex was probably damaged during practice.

  3. No, unfortunately I cannot refund the cost of your Cortex.
    I would recommend your team to purchase a new Cortex and use it for the Competition on the 25th.
    Then get the damaged Cortex repaired and keep it as a back-up unit.
    If this is OK with you, I would be glad to set-up a return (RMA) for the unit.

-Eli

3

Thank you for providing your expertise to the subject. That’s exactly the plan we’re following. I guess we’ll just have a spare Cortex sitting around then.

How do I go about setting up the return?

Thanks again

4

SweetMochi,

Just send an email requesting an RMA number here: [email protected]
Also reference this thread in the body of your email.
Thanks.

-Eli

5

Thanks Eli, we’ll get on that right away :slight_smile: