VEX has confirmed that there is a manufacturing error in a small run of V5 Smart Motors (11W). This only applies to a small production run of the Rev 10 version of motors (more details below).
Under normal circumstances, all Rev 10 motors will perform correctly and not fail.
Affected Rev 10 motors will only fail when used in Voltage Mode and commanded to run higher than 11V and then commanded with a reverse in direction.
Affected Rev 10 motors will not fail if you avoid Voltage Mode.
For schools not associated with a team, use one form.
For international customers, please reach out directly to your respective IFI Offce listed at support.vex.com
You will receive an email from VEX with a confirmation and ticket number.
You will receive an email from FedEx within 24-48 hours with a shipping label.
Ship your Rev 10 motors using the printed label.
As soon as VEX receives your motors and verified them, you will be shipped replacements.
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and thank you for your patience as we move through this process. If you have any further questions, please post them in the VEX Forum or send an email to [email protected]
Whatâs the error ?
Have you connected your PC directly to the V5 brain using a USB cable ?
Are you using a recent version of the Chrome browser ?
Have you closed any other programs that may be trying to communicate with the V5 brain such as VEXcode ?
I want to say that VEX took a metric crapton of abuse over these motors. They are now replacing them, free of charge. While Iâll agree we shouldnât have needed this, a 100% replacement is pretty amazing. Thanks Bob and Jon for making this happen.
Thatâs what a voluntary recall for the defective product is. Without such recall they risk getting a class action lawsuit and getting investigated by FTC. Not like there were any other good options.
@jpearman so would I be correct in assuming that I wouldnât need to worry about this motor because the number is low enough? Or do I need to test these 2022 motors even if the first 4 digits are below 2143?
The test program is plug N play, that is, you can leave it running and just plug and unplug motors and it will update the version status for that port on the brain, no disconnect screens will be shown, so itâs pretty quick to run through a box of motors and check them.
I just had 2 rev 10 motors fail under normal circumstances, not using voltage mode, they were brand new (right out of the bag) and the second time I ever made them move they failed. they werenât under a lot of strain, they were on a 6m 360 rpm drivetrain and they failed only being controlled with using pct speed.
We just went thru a similar experience. I was out of the loop regarding the Rev 10âs, so I had no idea why one of my rookie teams lost 6(!) motors in one practice. Turned out they were all Rev 10 motors, but they were running them in pct speed mode as well. Changed out to old motors, and they held up just fine the rest of the week and thru their tournament last Saturday.
Under normal circumstances, all Rev 10 motors will perform correctly and not fail.
Affected Rev 10 motors will only fail when used in Voltage Mode
Are both absolutley false!
We have had many rev 10 motors, and several replacements that are not rev 10 motors fail in the same way when driven by a VexCode Pro program and setting the motors to spin at 100 pct (not voltage mode).
The common theme with all of the failures was that they were on a 6 motor drive trains and on a heavy robot. When the drive train is moving fast, then it is fully reversed, the momentum from the mass of the heavy robot strains the motors and they fail, the red LED shuts off and never comes back on (just like the rev 10 motor issue description).
However we received replacement motors that were tested with the Rev 10 motor test and they said they were not rev 10 motors, and then they were used on a heavy robot and failed immediately.
Paul
If these are indeed not Rev10 motors (please open them up and confirm by looking at the PCB), contact vex support so we can get these exchanged and back to VEX engineering for analysis. Mention this topic when you call. Thanks.
I need to revise 1/2 of my original statement. The replacement motors sent to me by VEX that tested as ânot rev 10â boards did not fail as originally reported. My team that was using them did not do a thorough check of their Brain and Wires, after I retested everything they were found to be OK just a bad wire that was making them look like the original rev 10 failures.
I still stand by my first statement: Affected Rev 10 motors will only fail when used in Voltage Mode is false. Every rev 10 motor that failed were on drive trains and were not using voltage mode.
Good to know thanks. I guess Iâll just contact VEX support about the bad 5.5W motors for EXP. They stopped working within hours of being taken out of the kits.
