Ok so — our robot has been having major disconnection issues. It used to disconnect a lot at this tournament we went to in December. It would disconnect after that too. Then, we swapped out the cortex, vex net keys, and wire extender so when we competed on Feb. 10 we were totally fine. However, now the problem continues and the robot keeps disconnecting just as bad as before. Please send any suggestions. We want to recalibrate our controllers but we have no idea how to do that. Thank you:)
There is most likely a problem with the firmware so you should update the controller and cortex firmware.
here’s an informational link
http://www.robotc.net/wikiarchive/Manually_Updating_Firmware_(Cortex)
also, in competition, if you hook your system up to the competition field first and then pair your joystick and cortex, it will not disconnect during the match because the field control system will ensure that they remain paired for the entirety of the match.
Make sure you have a charged 9V battery. We had one but it was dead after we replaced it that solved all our problems
We have had this problem and the 9V is very important in solving the problem. Adding to this, if you are sure it isn’t a code/software issue, it could be mechanical. If there is metal within 2 inches of your VEXnet key it can make the connection not as good. Also, one thing that happened on our old robot, is sometimes the mesh attached to our lift would get caught on the VEXnet key and pull it out of the port a little, making it disconnect when that happened.
Another thing could be that your batter connector is lose, to test it you have to wiggle it around and if the cortex goes red then its a problem with that. Another thing you can try is wiggling your VEXnet around to see if that is the issue too. Our teams solution was to use a big ziptie to run it from the battery connector to the other side of the cortex to make sure that it stays straight (sorry if that didn’t make any sense).
@JuiceBox we have a brand new 9V so i don’t think that’s the problem
I have found that when my bot disconnects it is because of my controller batteries being dead. Normally all the lights on the controller go red when this is the case.
It is possible to get new cortex battery connectors. At my college one guy on the team got 7 Or so from vex, and we just soldered in the new ones, fixing our DC issue
One potential solution could be moving the vexnet location. Our cortex is at the center of our robot, and surrounded by metal, it disconnected a lot. When we wired it outside with a USB extension our problems stopped altogether.
Try taping the VexNet key to the cortex, and doing the same for the controller. Also, if your battery plug is loose, try wrapping some tape around the front-end, essentially creating a shim to keep it tight in the socket.
There are two things I would try if you are sure it is not a problem with the code. First, try either moving the cortex nearer the outside of the robot (not in a metal box). This can also be done with the USB extension cable. If this does not work, the only other thing I can think might be the problem is that the vexnet key is pulling out of the USB port. With this issue, I would start by looking for the cause of the key pulling out; keep in mind the key doesn’t have to fall all the way out, just a little bit. If the cause can not be found, try putting a rubber band or two around the cortex to keep vexnet in place.
One problem that we had is that one of our wires were frayed and had exposed metal so whenever our lift landed a certain way it would touch the frayed part of the wire and short out the cortex and cause it to disconnect. Check all your wires to make sure none of them are broken at all.
This is especially true. We thought that our robot was having connection issues. It was actually a frayed wire extension 