Certain motors in our robot have faulty ports, in which we had to tape wires onto them to work, does anyone know why these ports are broken and how to fix them.
The chip that generates the motor signal on the brain or motor is broken. This happens from Static buildup discharging into the signal pins of the chip frying them. Currently there is no legal way to fix it yourself. You can look into an RMA.
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Is there any way to prevent this from happening in the future
There is nothing you can do because the fix is modifying the electronics as I talked about here. That thread talks about how to fix it but then the warranty is void and the cortex is no longer competition legal. It was a design flaw in the design because the chips don’t have ESD protection circuits.
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you might have to just buy a new brain.
stacicide spray on your field, make sure all components are electrically grounded, and those new tiles really work well.
VEX Forum post flowchart. This always seems to have the answers.
Is topic about broken motors?
Yes
ESD
No
Is topic about broken ports?
Yes
ESD
No
Is topic about why VCS won't work?
Yes
ESD that person’s hard drive ASAP. VCS was discontinued
No
Is the topic about some physical robot issue?
Yes
Dunno ask @technik3k
No
Is the topic in #website-forum-support ?
Yes
Just mute that channel, it’s always just spam advertisements
No
Is it a robot reveal?
Yes
Watch it, I guess
No
Is it a rules question?
Yes
The Q&A answer just made it 10 times more confusing
No
Is this topic a legitimate issue that requires response beyond the previous answers?
Yes
This topic is too high-IQ for the VEX Forum. Go to cheifdelphi.
No
Stop clicking buttons.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
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If taping your wires/connectors into the ports makes them work, your issue has nothing to do with ESD/static as previous replies suggest.
First of all check your wires for any broken clips on the connectors. If your connectors look fine, then most likely the little “tab” in the port for the connector clip to “grab” onto is broken, similar to a very common issue with Cortex joysticks:
Unfortunately there really isn’t a legal way to fix this. I would just continue using electrical tape and/or rubber bands to hold your wires in.
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