There might be two independent issues, a persistent electrical one and an intermittent, bad contact mechanical one.
I have just easily reproduced the second kind on the beta kit by applying small bending force to the cable. I’ll post a video. (not sure if the cable was from beta or a new one, but it was a pre-made 900mm one, not a custom made - that rules out bad crimping and non-standard jack).
Edit: Video link
Out of interest, I tried to replicate the test by @nenik on our beta kit but trying various ports and cables, I couldn’t reproduce.
I am totally new here, like we got our V5 kits 2 days ago. The smart cable that we have connected to Port 10 will NOT come out. It is stuck. Do you have any suggestions?
@New2Bots, I have seen that happen. In our case, the plastic that the crimp tool pressed down came loose and shifted to block the cable from pulling out. We used a tweezers to get it out and it was good after.
I just started a new thread with the same issues, not seeing this thread before I posted. One of our 6 brains has 5 dead ports, with no explanation that I can tell. This is a potentially serious issue.
We are experiencing the same problem. We think it might have something to do with the “HOLD” function. We are only “breaking” ports used for the lift and only the lifts are using the HOLD function.
Tell us more about the lift. One or more motors ? Long cables ? Do you move the lift manually much, when the V5 is powered on or powered off ?
The cable is not very long. DBR4 bar. One motor was 200 RPM cartridge, but changing to 100 RPM cartridge today. We have two bots with a lift. One team (with no issues) uses R1/R2 to lift with the HOLD function on the stop motor. The other team, for whatever reason, was using the A/B Button to go up and down. They are the team that has burned out ports. We are changing the code today to R1 and R2 and hopefully that will fix it. It “seems” that the HOLD function should only be used in conjunction with the R1/2 or the L1/2. Hopefully the port itself does not matter. We do not move the lift at all manually.
Ok, thanks for the feedback. Use of R1/R2 or A/B for control should make no difference. Let us know if any more ports become damaged.
should we stop using the HOLD function? That is the only thing that is different.
Just remembered one more thing, the lift motor was HOT when it was taken off the robot. No burn smell, just hot.
Now one of our robots even does not have 10 ports to drive our motors.
We find that most of the broken ports had attached to motors which were set to be other braketype.
We changed to R1/2 or L1/2 and still using the HOLD type with stop motor. No issues since switching to the shoulder buttons. We have run all bots in about 10 scrimmages. No trouble.
It may have nothing to do with the controller and wires because many button and wires in my case (even 600mm wire once but long wires problem are more frequent ) has led to this kind of port destruction. We’re using other wires but the same problem still remains. We think it could be caused by the static electricity or VEXos system problem when it’s in high load . I stall a motor connected through 1500mm wire for 2 hours, monitoring its behaviors, but nothing happen.
The V5 system has its own pid function to control the motor.
Most of our broken ports use something like:
Motor.startRotateFor(3000,vex::rotationUnits::deg);
if we don’t use :
Motor.stop()
and something holds back the motor, that port will break out quickily, even at a low speed.
Now one of our robots has only 7 ports to drive our motors.
TAT
Besides, looking forward to meeting your team in Shanghai.
So where are you from ?
Our ports are also broken even when they’re connected to radio or vision sensor.
It sounds like the ports “breaking” may be related to the Brain’s overcurrent protection not being disabled properly.
@jpearman You/Engineering have probably already investigated this avenue, but, just in case you haven’t, here’s a free theory for you.
Well, here we are with our first MAJOR V5 issue.
It seems like we are also having the dreaded “dead port” issue. Port 5 died after powering our lift, with a custom length cable (yes, we have the official VEX cabling and ends), approximately 2ft long. The motors plugged into port 5 do not show up on devices, until the screen is closed and reopened. When they do show up (after re-opening devices), the motors are completely non-functional. On the motor port the red light just blinks. We switched the lift to port 4, and the next day port 4 was killed, and the motor has become completely non functional. When trying the now dead motor on another brain, the port just flashes red (the same flashing as plugging a functional motor into the dead port).
So we now have a V5 brain with two dead ports, and it also appears to somehow have cooked a motor.
We are now severely limited in what we want to do with our build, as it appears that long cable runs, using the official vex cable and connectors, are a risky thing to use.
Any solution for this problem? This is happening with many different ports for us.
I wish there was. This appears to be an issue for those who have moved to V5. I know Vex, specifically, jpearman, is trying to figure out what is going on, but in the meantime my confidence in V5 is shaken a little.
My hope is Vex makes this right when it comes to dead motors and also brains that have lost ports.