Hey guys got another problem. Just installed a motor encoder and coupled it with a PID. It was working great until I touched the robot and it stopped working. I thought it was just connectivity problems. But this is my 10th time of it shorting out when I touch the robot. When I say shorting out I mean that the encoder isn’t returning a value and the led isn’t as bright. The motor it’s on is mounted directly to the metal. How do I get it to keep working even after a static shock?
See this post
IME - Technical description and software workarounds - post #2
and also this.
ESD - my thoughts
If it really is static causing an IME reset then there’s not much you can do, all depends how it’s failing but the software workarounds can become complicated.
I read some other threads and saw some people using low-friction chains built from vex metal to be constantly grounding the robot. Would something like this work?
The problem is that the field tiles are probably an insulator, the robot presumably gets charged up and when it touches you or the field perimeter it manages to discharge.
But I have not experimented with anything, so perhaps it does work, I don’t know. I haven’t heard of as many problems this year, where is the IME that has issues? ie. drive, lift etc.
We have a conveyor actuator on our lift. The IME is on the motor that drives the actuator.
Without a clamping diode, we have shifted back to the big bulky quad encoders. Too many static discharges for me to recommend the IME any more.
Here is a great idea though! I think this online challenge should be prototyped. Quad encoder tech in the form factor of the IME on the back of the motor. Not sure if that wheel hole would be too much bleed of light or catch all the changes with the RPM of the internal gear.
http://forum.robotevents.com/design/entry/detail/4199
http://forum.robotevents.com/upload/001/098/0010987_detail.jpg
That’s pretty smart! Hopefully Intellitek can fix this. We might get anti static spray. In the mean time though I just switched over to a quad encoder. To bad because I really wanted to use the IMEs.
Anti static spray did not help much. Of course it’s winter here in PA so static is more of a problem in dry air
Dry air in PA? How about CO?
I have never had an issue with static though, I wonder what is causing all of this static, poor robot design, field on a poor material floor? Something else?
The floor foam tile is an insulator so any static will only discharge when you get a nice grounded path - the field walls or game parts like the sack attack trough holder or the bridge holder in toss up. So many times when you hit the wall, it would reset the robot.
I would say 15% of the time it would do this on the auton run in toss up.
This year, the auton does not move the robot at all!