Search found 21 matches

by James
Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:21 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.
Replies: 19
Views: 24006

Re: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.

Update on status after a really long time (coronavirus and some personal issues...) Thank you for all your help. I have managed to repair the controllers, replaced all burned MOSFETs and also one of the gate drivers on the older MCP230A. I also rigged up two really rugged voltage clamp boards based ...
by James
Sun Feb 02, 2020 2:03 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.
Replies: 19
Views: 24006

Re: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.

Thank you for offering to Skype. I will make arrangements and PM you (we are UTC+2, so I need to obtain clearance to stay in the lab until late, plus I'll need to find me an assistant if I have to manage probes and scope and the camera in real-time). I will recheck the o-scope settings, since that &...
by James
Fri Jan 31, 2020 7:45 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.
Replies: 19
Views: 24006

Re: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.

Believe me, everyone here in the company would love nothing more than to send the controller over to you, the most qualified experts to repair it, and save ourselves the hassle. However, as I've mentioned, I live in Greece. I will elaborate on why sending it over is a bad idea... Shipping the contro...
by James
Fri Jan 31, 2020 7:22 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.
Replies: 19
Views: 24006

Re: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.

Back again, with some results. There was no shortage of pins I think (sry, couldn't resist the pun :D ) My experimental setup is as follows: 13.5V/3A max, regulated power supply. I opted for the low-range of acceptable supply voltage here. A 5.6 Ω resistive load for testing. That is a plain 5W power...
by James
Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:25 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.
Replies: 19
Views: 24006

Re: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.

Cool. I checked the (omgsotiny!) resistors with the multimeter, without desoldering them. I got a concise 6 Ω measurement across each one, so I guess the resistors are fine. I also checked the pins of the MIC4102s (the gate drivers), but didn't get any short-circuit readings between the pins, not th...
by James
Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:21 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.
Replies: 19
Views: 24006

Re: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.

Your BMS is preventing motor regen from going back into the battery which is causing a massive voltage spike in the MCP. Regen causes the voltage on the batteryt rise and the BMS is probably set to disconnect if the voltage rises farther than some point. If the batteries cant take the regen energy ...
by James
Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:54 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Feature Request: Studio app for Linux
Replies: 5
Views: 10391

Re: Feature Request: Studio app for Linux

2. It may seem a large number of people using Roboclaw are using Linux but in my own experience, doing tech support for our entire customer base, I mark it at 1% to 2% on the high side. :shock: Perhaps us Linux fellows don't need to resort to bothering you with every little details, that's why you ...
by James
Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:19 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Feature Request: Studio app for Linux
Replies: 5
Views: 10391

Feature Request: Studio app for Linux

I would like to propose that you release your Studio app for Linux. I think almost everyone using a RoboClaw or MCP (especially in research) pairs them with either an RC receiver, or a Raspberry or similar SBC. It would be nice to be able to configure our boards from our laptop, instead of having to...
by James
Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:57 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.
Replies: 19
Views: 24006

Need help troubleshooting a burned MCP236.

I have a big robot I'm designing and building for work. The setup is pretty typical: battery - MCPs - motors. With a host of additional electronics on the side, but which were not operational for the tests and are thus irrelevant. Each MCP236 drives a pair of PMDC servomotors (basically ordinary mot...
by James
Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:21 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: R and L setting by serial
Replies: 15
Views: 21300

Re: R and L setting by serial

Corect on the float(x) idea. However, from an optimization point of view, it is much more preferable to use float constants if you can arrange your code that way. float(x) is a method, so it involves additional computational overhead, which within the context of a simple operation might take more ti...