During a competition this past weekend, one of our teams experienced an issue with the V5 brain screen. Twice in practice and once during a match, the screen turned all white and disconnected from the controllers. We were unable to drive and needed to unplug the battery in order to reset the system as the back button on the brain was not functioning. However, the battery LED still lit up when the button on the brain was pressed. We noticed that twice the issue occurred after the robot made minor contact with the field and the first time was seemingly a random occurrence. We want to know if this issue has been seen before and if there is anyway to prevent this in the future. The brain was running the latest firmware and pros code. Thanks!
This is an indicator that the battery must be replaced. That is what I have noticed.
Hmm, I guess vex really has not created a solution to the static electricity problem yet. However, I had this same problem and every time it was the battery being dead. I would suggest just being more cautious with static electricity and maybe buy some of the anti static spray suggested in the thread. Otherwise, you could try replacing the brain and see if that the new one will experience the same problems as often.
Just happened to my team today at the beginning of a match, right after autonomous. Driver moved the robot in position to shoot a flag and the robot just stopped with a WSOD. Battery was fully charged, right of the charger. Field sprayed with staticide. Robot did not bang into anything and was not touched by humans (no static, no sparks). A few people told us itās definitely a bad battery and to just mark it with a big red āXā, trash it and never even think about it again. Canāt do that, itās our only battery from a V5 kit. We already gave up on the idea that our extra battery orders from 2018 will ever show up. I really hope this cursed battery thing is just a myth and the issue is possibly caused by a bad connection (maybe the power cable not seated properly and vibrations causing a brief disconnect?) It is our first time experiencing a WSOD and generally had a great experience with V5 with the exception of one dead port (port 20) on the brain and a couple of seized motors (one we overheated repeatedly so our fault but one just died out of the blue). Any news / ideas on this white screen thing?
Ran event today - few issues - field treated with anti-statics spread, post rain, so humidity not typical winter try.
- two of my teams both had V5 Robot Brain white screen of death. Both after a hard hit with another robot. They were dead in the water after that.
-one team had V5 Controller Red Screen of death - no connection with V5 Robot Brainā¦ probably cause low V5 Controller battery according to the team.
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White screens generally come due to static generated. I have not white-screened, and I think thatās because it may have a relevance to the fact that my robot is painted, which probably muffles the static going up the robot. I guess this is also why I never get shocked whenever I touch the robot after long practice runs. Generally speaking, if you get a white screen, I would maybe try putting padding/cloth/foam below where the V5 brain is and zip tie the Brain into place compared to screwing it. That way the static would be forced to go through the padding/foam in order to reach the Brain.
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Thatās kind of concerning that even with humidity and antistatic there were still multiple white screens.
https://www.robotevents.com/VRC/2018-2019/QA/218
This thread has not gotten a response even though the Q and As after it have, so Iām assuming the GDC is at least considering this update. That would basically solve the problem.
And I have absolutely no idea if this helped, but yesterday at my tournament I brought a spray bottle and sprayed my wheels with water before every match. I never white screened.
Ran event today - few issues - field treated with anti-statics spread, post rain, so humidity not typical winter try.
- two of my teams both had V5 Robot Brain white screen of death. Both after a hard hit with another robot. They were dead in the water after that.
-one team had V5 Controller Red Screen of death - no connection with V5 Robot Brainā¦ probably cause low V5 Controller battery according to the team.
I also had a team WSOD at my tournament this weekend. They were my own team and it happened to them twice in the same day.
I have a theory as to what is causing white screens that may be plausible. In terms of āgrounding,ā many commercial-made motherboards have housings with threaded holes which you screw into to dissipate static that is inside of the motherboard away from it. With the V5 brain, I think that white screen is related to the static charge going through the 4 threaded holes in the back of the Brain, in which instead of it being meant to dissipate static away, it makes an open gate for static to enter. Most white screens I have seen have those holes screwed in, or the metal of those threaded holes are touching parts of the robot. So in theory, when your robot bumps against a perimeter or robot that gained static, if your Brain has either of those 4 holes touching a part of your robot, the static charge will go through the metal and straight into the Motherboard. Unless someone can confirm me wrong about this problem, I would suggest potentially raising the V5 Brain up and with the plastic clips and maybe that can help.
- I have whitescreened before. Never used the thread on the back of the brain, only the plastic clips.
- The threads on the back of the brain do not go into the PCB. I donāt have a picture of the inside of the back, but I do have a picture of the rear PCB where you can see that there are no places for the rear threads to go.
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Woah, that was a quick response. Thank you for the confirmation!