i am/hoping to buy the new micro controller and am wondering how many 293 motors it can handle because it says it only has two ports for them. i was hoping to run 4.
I believe (don’t take my word, let an VRI staff confirm this) that the V.5 microcontroller, the Cortex and the ARM9 can all handle at least 4 of the high strength motors.
The V.5 will need 4 PWM to DC adapters to run 4 high strength motors.
The Cortex will need 2 PWM to DC adapters to run 4 high strength motors.
The ARM9 will has four DC motor ports.
I would absolutely run the four high strength motor PWM cables through a power expander if you decided to use the V.5.
The Cortex can draw more power so it should be alright.
-Cody
thanks Cody and as extension cables go do you need special ones for the 393 motors or will the old ones suffice.
also about the cortex micro controller i saw in Dallas they had one with two battery’s plugged in to the main port is this competition legal or will the power expander be required?
and a completely unrelated question how much can one pneumatics cylinder do with two pistons acting on them? I was planning on using them to open a spring closed claw for round up.
For any 393 motor which is using the PWM to DC converter, I believe you can use PWM extensions. As for the ones that will plug directly into the two wire DC ports, those will need special extensions. I don’t actually know if those DC extensions are for sale or not.
The Cortex only has one main 7.2v battery port. Don’t be confused by the backup battery which is a required 9v battery that is used to power the internal electronics in case of a main battery failure.
The pneumatics have a regulator. The amount of useful pneumatic bursts will vastly depend upon how much air you need for each burst. At nearly fully open I would say less than 10 bursts, barely closed and you’d get at least 30. Leaking air is also a factor, we’ve always had issues holding air inside the loop, perhaps another team can suggest an idea here.
OK i got that thanks.
about the battery thing though i am pretty sure that there was a robot on display, that had two 7.2 volt battery’s plugged into one port. and dose anyone know if the 29 DC converters have a delay in them or are they the same as the 393’s plugged directly in to the micro controller
The dragster was running the motors at 14 volts. I recommend you not try this at home, if you have to pay for your own motors.
Under the details for the Cortex Microcontroller it says it’s programmable using EasyC and Robot. Under the EasyC page though, it doesn’t say it’s compatible with the Cortex Microcontroller (only RobotC does).
Is the current version of Easy not compatible with teh Cortex and a new version will be?
Looking forward to using the new electronics!!!
Taken from the Cortex Module store page:
* STMicroelectronics ARM Cortex-M3 user processor
* Wireless with built-in VEXnet technology
* (8) Standard 3-wire Motor ports
* (2) 2-wire Motor ports
* (1) I2C “smart sensor” port
* (2) UART Serial Ports
* (8) Hi-res (12-bit) Analog Inputs
* (12) Fast digital I/O ports which can be used as interrupts
* Programmable with easyC or ROBOTC
Is there any video of that dragster? It sounds beastly, and I’m curious to see how fast that thing can go. 
The people at the intelik booth said that EasyC Cortex would be out in a couple of weeks.
Do you have any pictures of this “dragster” for the people that were not able to make it to World. Thanks in advance