We have a working flywheel that is very accurate and consistent. The problem is we have to wait an interminable amount of time between each ball before launching it. We have an external gear ratio of 25:1. It is run on four high strength motors (110 power, 80 for halfcourt shots). Is there any way we can make the recovery time faster? Can we use some kind of sensor that will help so we don’t have to change the motor power?
I have no idea why it would take so long for your launcher/shooter to take so long to warm/speed up. Our launcher takes about 1.5 seconds top speed up to its max speed, we then can shoot without a problem or wait. I have seen many videos lately, VEX Nothing but Net Robot in 3 days documentary - YouTube, I saw that this prevents the motors from overheating.
I don’t know this helps but its worth sharing :D.
Thanks,
Murf.
This method allows your wheel to free spin, so you can save momentum. The amount of momentum that an object has is dependent upon two variables: how much stuff is moving and how fast the stuff is moving. Momentum depends upon the variables mass and velocity. In terms of an equation, the momentum of an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object.
Momentum = mass • velocity
Thus, the above equation can be rewritten as
p = m • v
where m is the mass and v is the velocity. The equation illustrates that momentum is directly proportional to an object’s mass and directly proportional to the object’s velocity. Our current problem doesn’t have anything to do with momentum. It is not an overheating problem either. Someone told me that it is the compression time and I have not thought about that yet. But thank you for the suggestion:) We are using this mechanism in the future if our motors act up:p
One thing you could potentially look into is adding more wheels to your flywheel to increase its effective weight and thus its momentum at full speed (or something like that). Because of the increased momentum it means the motors have to recover less speed and suddenly your fire rate is increased 
The compression is also a good point. 
Just keep in mind that adding another wheel so the momentum will increase will make it harder for the motors to slow down without a ratchet system. Another thing you could try is spacing the wheels apart so that there is less pressure on the wheel causing the speed to decrease. If you do have 2 wheels I suggest having spacing in between them that molds to the ball.