Encoder Maintenance

VEX V5 General Discussion Technical Discussion
1

I know this may seem obvious to some, but I finally figured out why my encoders didn’t work. Since joining this year and not knowing which products had been used from the former robotics team at my school, the optical encoders would not respond to the sample encoder program. After one month of frustration, I gave up.

Then I picked them up one day and thought I wonder what these look like inside. They were VERY dusty! So I took out the disk and blew off the dust and used a q-tip to clean the sensors. IT WORKED! :smiley: I could not believe it and my autonomous mode will greatly benefit.

So if you have problems with them. Clean the disk and sensors!

2

thanks for that information, those had probably been used ages ago collecting dust

3

This is probably why they don’t use Optical Encoders to measure the wheel speed in cars. Hall Effect Magnetic Encoders are used instead since they are more durable in harsh environments and are used for the ABS Brake Systems in cars.

4

yah i know, they pretty much work the same too just with magnets instead of IR, arent thy faster too?