So I’ve only had bad experiences with ports 1 and 10 burning out (Had to return a cortex, and currently have one that is broken because of that), but people are telling me that there is nothing wrong with them. Should I be using ports 1 and 10? Just as a side note these would be used on my drive should I use them at all.
This information is based on personal experiences in which it potentially may be wrong
I had to replace my CORTEX not just once, but Twice because of an external motor controller that was faulty. In my personal opinion and experiences, I think it may be better to have as minimal of motor controllers as possible and use ports 1 and 10, mainly because 1 ports 1 and 10 have never caused problems for me in all of my 3 years of experience and 2 ports 1 and 10 are more responsive. I have spent way too much money replacing a CORTEX because of a faulty external motor controller, and I simply advise to have as few of external motor controllers as possible. But I will say though, all (both internal and external) motor controllers can burn out if a wire is pinched or cut. This can be prevented by making sure wires are properly tucked in a secure location, as far away of gears as possible yet not able to be grappled or caught into something else, occasionally using wire sleeves, and even spending time to improve build quality. Generally speaking, better build quality is proportional to fewer problems with the CORTEX, which also includes more consistency and reliability. Also most teams that win the World Championship uses ports 1 and 10.
Like Connor, this is my opinion (and may be incorrect). I recommend using four Y-cables and do not use ports 1 and 10.
I have had to have my cortex repaired because port 1 burnt out. In my five years of experience I have never had an external motor controller damaged a Cortex. I have had several experiences with smoking motor controllers but everything has been fine once they have been replaced/repaired (masking tape round the short, it’ll be fine :D). For the past season I used four Y-cables to avoid using ports 1 and 10.
On the subject of wiring, it is worth spending a long time to get everything wired safely and securely. Replacing that one extension that runs all the way down your lift is awful, so make absolutely sure that it can’t be caught on gears or in moving parts. Leave spare wire around hinge points so that the wire doesn’t get stretched when the joints hinge. Would also recommend putting 6 motors on a power expander (use two Y-cables).
I fully understand that either of us may be wrong on which is and isn’t correct. But on the last statement, generally speaking, it is better to stay with having only 4 motors on the expander and not 6 for PTC distribution reasons. The expander has one PTC for all 4 ports, and the CORTEX has 2 PTC’s, one from ports 1-5 and another from 6-10. It would help prevent problems if you distribute evenly across all of the PTC’s regardless if the CORTEX would consume battery more. So generally speaking, I would suggest 4 motors on 1-5 PTC, 4 motors on 6-10 PTC, and 4 on the expander to ensure that you’re getting as even of a distribution as possible. To improve consistency, I would also suggest having the drivetrain be distributed between the 1-5 PTC and 6-10 PTC and never on the expander since the drivetrain is the most important subsystem of a robot.
The ports 1 and 10 topic I generally don’t want to give a solid answer but give an answer that I follow myself from personal experiences, regardless if wrong or not by the general public.
Interested to see the data.
Yeah, where did that “statistic” come from?