Hello VEXForum! I have a question. Is there a difference between a 2-motor connected drivetrain and a 4-motor drivetrain? Can someone please clarify?
Hello, I don’t fully understand your question, but I’ll try my best: A 2-motor drivetrain has 2 motors, while a 4-motor drivetrain has 4 motors.
In all seriousness, the more motors on your drivetrain, the quicker the acceleration and the greater the pushing power. It also enables you to use more aggressive ratios to get higher speeds. However, it means you leave yourself with fewer motors for other subsystems. I’d like to refer you to our build instruction guide challenge, which is for v5, but the general tips should remain roughly the same. Hope this helps!
2 Likes
yes, a 4 motor would have more torque since there is more volts
The difference between 2 and 4 motors is torque. Torque is the force applied by the motor to an axle to spin the axle. More motors means more torque is available (assuming all motors you’re using are the same). More torque allows your robot to accelerate faster. Not enough torque, and it won’t be able to get up to speed. You can use gearing to convert some of the motors’ rotational speed into torque, but your robot would then move slower. In fact, many teams use gearing to convert some of their drivetrain’s torque to speed, allowing them to have a faster robot thanks to the “spare torque” they had.
Effectively, more drivetrain motors makes a more powerful drivetrain.
Well, a two motor drivetrain has 2 motors, and a four motor drivetrain has 4 motors. Pick the one that matches the motors on your drivetrain.
1 Like
I’m not sure what you mean by “2-motor connected.” Does this imply a PTO?
1 Like
My bad for not explaining. What I meant by a “2-motor connected drivetrain” is a 2 motor drivetrain but all wheels are connected via chains and sprockets.
1 Like
Typically to get gear ratios you gear/chain sides of the drive. So I guess in that case the difference between the two would be one allows for gear ratios and the other doesn’t. Of course you could just gear/chain the four motor drive. I would highly recommend four motor drive or more. Two motor drive trains in competition are extremely weak and easy to get pushed around. I would also not recommend using chain as it can snap easily.
2 motor drives don’t have as much torque as 4 motor drives. Plus, with 4 or more motors, it’ll be easier to get unstuck if an object gets stuck under your robot. Believe me, my team started with 2 motors, and it was awful. We changed it to a 4 motor drive and the difference was very noticeable.
1 Like
Yes, torque is the main difference between 2 motor drivetrains and 4 motor drivetrains. However, I don’t recommend using chains and sprockets to connect the 2 motors, as you can still get a gear ratio of 2:1 with this drivetrain. (Our team used to have a chain dt but changed it). With 4 motor drivetrains, more torque enables higher gear ratios, since more torque is required to spin these higher ratios. Also, you may argue that a 2 motor drivetrain is still better because it leaves more motors left over to perform other functions such as intaking. However, you can use a PTO to share multiple (usually two) motors onto two shafts. This basically shares the motor power, enabling you to use 4 motor drivetrains without sacrificing anything.