Dead cRIO??!!? HELP!!!

[Jonathan137]

So um, our cRIO just died while we were driving. And now when we turn on our robot, NONE of the status lights on the cRIO turn on. Moreover, to show that its not just the LED lights that are blown out, the Ethernet lights on the cRIO do not turn one when they are connected. The cRIO is definitely getting power (first of all the power distro board is green, then we used a multimeter and found that the cRIO out on the distro board is giving 24.5V and on the receiving end of the cRIO it is also getting 24.5V. We also rechecked the WAGO connection to the cRIO and that was good as well)

Ok I will just include some other of the other catastrophic events that happened to us that could somehow, possibly be related:

1)      Eth2 on our driver station did not light up ( but finally figured out that we could use a hub to plug the Laptop and Router into eth1)

2)      Driver station intermittently bluescreens

3)      We reimaged the cRIO and our drivers station (yes we followed all the directions

4)      Oh, and the Ethernet port on the back of our laptop stops working intermittently too.

5)      So after fixing all of this we were able to deploy code (but when we tried to run as startup, it could not detect a connection to the cRIO)

So is our cRIO broken?  If so, how is this even possible? (We have always treated our cRIO with nothing but gracious professionalism) Is there any way we can get another cRIO ASAP – the build season will be over soon!

PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[StephenB]

If you are giving 24V to the cRIO power connector from the PD board (check this with a multimeter, but the LED should light on the PD board if it is good) and your cRIO power light does not turn on, it is dead. It likely blew an internal fuse. If you call in today we can get you a new one by tomorrow. (866)-511-6285

We can process RMA's (repairs) all day, otherwise tech support is 1-7PM CST

Remember, for urgent issues like this, your best bet is to call in.

[jcbyrne]

We have the same issue and verified it was the 2A fuse by jumpering across it and everything lit up again.

We have found two similar 2A fuses from Littlefuse. Is this a slow blow or fast blow?

Thanks.

John Byrne

[StephenB]

Call into our support line at 1 866 511 6285, if you call in before 4 we can get you a new one tomorrow.

I don't reccomend repairing it yourself as you will void your warranty.

If you could help us out with some more information when you call in:

• What the robot was doing when it failed
• How was the cRIO powered when it failed
• How many motors and actuators is the team controlling at the time of failure
• Wiring diagram for the robot
• Pictures of the robot(s)
• List of everything being powered from the PD board
• What the cRIO is mounted on and how is it mounted. 

[jcbyrne]

I could give you the information that you asked for, however we know how it happened. An electrically challenged individual on our team did a bunch of drilling on the robot, above the crio, allowing aluminum shavings to rain down upon it - while powered up. I had only left the room momentarily to come back to find a dead crio covered in aluminum shavings...... Up until then we were powering 10 motors, and had already participated in a pre-season mini-regional with no issues, and were very happy with the performance. We had taken great care to isolate the cRIO from the frame with it sitting on delrin strips and all bolts being run through nylon bushings, finished off with nylon washers. Had we only built the rest of the robot out of plastic we would have been fine 😉

Does the person listed by FIRST as our team lead need to call for repairs? We had already purchased a spare which we installed on the robot before we shipped it, so we are not in dire staights at this time.