Whining motors, and no movement

[psycho_fling]

at the aylesbury event BOW started to go one way as if only one motor was working. i have only just had a chance to have a look and test it, and find when pushing the forward stick it whins the motors and no movement. the only direction i can get any movement out of is left abd backwards and then it goes really slowerly with only the one wheel working

what on earth is this?

i did think of the low battery but then at least it would move if slowly

any ideas?

cheers alex

[RogueTwoRobots]

Probably the speed controllers

The Electronize controllers need battery power to turn on the relay AND power up the motor (once the relay is turned on). If there is not enough power left in the battery, it wont be able to turn the motor once the relay is turned on. If power is really low, the relay wont turn on properly and will most likely (from experience) make a continuous clicking noise as it attempts to turn on.

I think this is probably what the whining noise is.
(EDIT: Just remembered, the whining noise is caused because the power that is being applied to the motor is insufficient to turn the motor under load - IIRC, if you run the motor without any weight on it, it should just turn and no more)

The reason why it would only go back and left is that the relays only need power to turn them on in one direction. When there is no power applied, the relay automatically moves to its other position (which is most likely set as the back position in your setup) and since the battery doesnt need to provide power to turn on the relay, it is able to slightly power the motors, hence why they are going backwards slowly.

Best bet would be to charge up the battery and test it out to see if it works again. If it doesnt then itll probably need someone with more experience than me to work out the problem

(Message edited by K_C_R on May 20, 2007)

[psycho_fling]

thanks jamie sorted it now i think it was the power, good charge should help it
thanks alex