Standard Robonova problems?
Standard Robonova problems?
by serithseraki
Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:20 pm
With the two and a half years of owning my Robonova I have never encountered a problem, other than my coding but I see multiple posts about burnt out servos, dead LEDs, defunct batteries, and soldered pieces breaking. What I would like to know is how long you all have owned your Robo's before any of these problems occur so I may get an idea of how commonplace these problems are. I would like to keep my Robo operational for the long haul and knowing what to fix and when would be a valued piece of information.
by PaulL
Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:48 pm
Motors wear out, it happens - brushes don't last forever! High currents and small brushes don't mix. The higher the servo voltage you run, the quicker your brushes will go - a performance trade off. Heavy loads induce more current flow, further stressing the tiny brushes in the motor. It's just how it is. Will the motor wear out before the gears break? Maybe, maybe not - depends.
Boards usually don't burn unless overloaded. I have one example in an ebay RN-1 that has a blown board, but who knows how that happened - jammed up servo, etc, typically some event causes it.
Gears wear, but abusing gears makes them fail prematurely. Remember, every time you yank an unpowered servo into some position, you are stressing the drive train in a way not exactly intended.
Dead LED's? They usually don't fail for a VERY VERY long time, unless they're overdriven (more than rated current).
Batteries do fail with age - they're chemical, and will give out. That said, LiPo has a better lifespan than NiMh (like the RN-1's stock battery) or NiCd.
Soldered pieces breaking? Uh - how?
I saw one failure in my first RN-1 out of the box personally (a fried MRC-3024), and one in person in the ebay bot (again, who knows what kind of abuse it sustained). If you take care of your stuff, it should last longer, but nothing lasts forever! Buying spares isn't a bad idea, esp w/ RN-1 now obsoleted. As all things, depends on how much you use it, too. But, even batteries go bad sitting around. My stock batts still work, but I haven't put them on a decent charger to see how many mAh are left in them.
IMHO, don't worry about it if you don't run your bot much, or if you do so with caution. Slower is better, and if you compete, expect things to break / fail - that's part of the game, pushing things to their limits, and buying more parts.
Also, if you notice a problem, FIX IT! Ignoring a tick in a gear means something will break in time, and if you let it go, it could get worse (broken tooth jams gear, gear locks motor, motor fries, board fries, servo gone).
There are a lot of moving parts in our machines, mostly in the servos. Having spare servos is a good thing. I bought the stock ebay bot as a complete set of spares (though abused spares!). At some point, Hitec Robotic servos that fit the RN-1 will be gone, and the RN-1 will be unsustainable in the long term, but the uknown is just how long.
Take Care,
Paul
Boards usually don't burn unless overloaded. I have one example in an ebay RN-1 that has a blown board, but who knows how that happened - jammed up servo, etc, typically some event causes it.
Gears wear, but abusing gears makes them fail prematurely. Remember, every time you yank an unpowered servo into some position, you are stressing the drive train in a way not exactly intended.
Dead LED's? They usually don't fail for a VERY VERY long time, unless they're overdriven (more than rated current).
Batteries do fail with age - they're chemical, and will give out. That said, LiPo has a better lifespan than NiMh (like the RN-1's stock battery) or NiCd.
Soldered pieces breaking? Uh - how?
I saw one failure in my first RN-1 out of the box personally (a fried MRC-3024), and one in person in the ebay bot (again, who knows what kind of abuse it sustained). If you take care of your stuff, it should last longer, but nothing lasts forever! Buying spares isn't a bad idea, esp w/ RN-1 now obsoleted. As all things, depends on how much you use it, too. But, even batteries go bad sitting around. My stock batts still work, but I haven't put them on a decent charger to see how many mAh are left in them.
IMHO, don't worry about it if you don't run your bot much, or if you do so with caution. Slower is better, and if you compete, expect things to break / fail - that's part of the game, pushing things to their limits, and buying more parts.
Also, if you notice a problem, FIX IT! Ignoring a tick in a gear means something will break in time, and if you let it go, it could get worse (broken tooth jams gear, gear locks motor, motor fries, board fries, servo gone).
There are a lot of moving parts in our machines, mostly in the servos. Having spare servos is a good thing. I bought the stock ebay bot as a complete set of spares (though abused spares!). At some point, Hitec Robotic servos that fit the RN-1 will be gone, and the RN-1 will be unsustainable in the long term, but the uknown is just how long.
Take Care,
Paul
by serithseraki
Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:26 pm
Soldered pieces breaking? Uh - how?
I read in a past post about the interface cable connector breaking due to bad soldering on the manufacturers part. Also I could see it easily snapping off if not handled gently.
Anyway, thank you for your response, I am also trying to buy a used Robo for spare parts but not many have fit my current budget. Regardless with your provided info I will try to stock heavily on servos and try to get a spare MRC3024, if they do not sell out first.