CTR Electronics TALON FX VEX.PRO FALCON 500 User manual

Rev. 11/30/22
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Rev. 11/30/22
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
FALCON 500 FEATURES 19
PERFORMANCE DATA 21
GENERAL WARNINGS 22
MOUNTING A FALCON 500 23
WIRING THE FALCON 500 24
INSTALLING GEARS & PULLEYS 29
USING THE FALCON 500 COOLING PORT 31
CHANGING THE OUTPUT SHAFT 32
INSTALLING THE FALCON 500 IN A VERSAPLANETARY 33
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 34
BLINK CODES 37
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 41
TROUBLESHOOTING 45
WHAT’S INCLUDED 49
FCC COMPLIANCE STATEMENT (UNITED STATES): 50
ICES-003 COMPLIANCE STATEMENT (CANADA): 50
REVISION HISTORY 51
SUPPORT 52
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Rev. 11/30/22
FALCON 500 FEATURES
The Falcon 500, powered by Talon FX, is a
revolutionary brushless motor for FRC! With an
integrated motor controller and encoder, it raises the
bar for motor and motor controller performance.
The Falcon 500 introduced many new and innovative
features to the FIRST® Robotics Competition, some of
which are the first of their kind in the FRC market.
These features will not only change the way teams
think about motors, but will change the way teams
interact with, use, and maintain them. The bottom line
is the Falcon 500, powered by Talon FX, is changing
competition as we know it.
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BRUSHLESS IS MORE
The Falcon 500 is a brushless motor, custom designed specifically for the FIRST Robotics Competition,
through a collaboration between VEX Robotics and Cross the Road Electronics. Brushless motors are
better than their brushed counterparts for a variety of reasons:
More Reliable
The brushes inside a brushed motor will inevitably fail. Over time these brushes deteriorate, leading to
degraded performance. This is the reason why many FRC teams use new motors every year – regardless of
whether they still work or not. In fact, some FRC teams have started replacing their brushed motors
mid-season to make sure they’re always getting the most out of their robot.
In theory, the bearings inside a brushless motor will be the first item to wear out. This means that
brushless motors have a significantly longer lifespan than brushed motors.
Cooler & More Efficient
Since there are no brushes creating a torque load on the shaft, brushless motors produce more torque,
making them more ecient. This higher eciency not only means the motor is producing more power, it
means less heat is being generated. By producing less heat, a brushless motor can operate for longer at a
given power than a brushed motor.
More Power Density
Power density is how much mechanical power a motor can produce, relative to its size. Due to their design,
brushless motors have a much higher power density that wouldn’t be available in a similar sized brushed
motor. This means that the Falcon 500, powered by Talon FX is smaller and lighter than most FRC legal
brushed motors, while producing significantly more power.
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POWER UP
When using trapezoidal control, the Falcon 500 produces just under 400W of Power at 40A and 12VDC.
Without a doubt, it is the most powerful motor in the FIRST Robotics Competition. At peak power the
Falcon 500 can produce over 780W of power in trapezoidal control!
FRC teams won’t be able to use all 780W due to limitations of their robot’s power distribution system. The
higher peak power does mean that when used on an FRC robot, the motor will be operating at a lower area
of the power curve (further to the right in the graph below). By operating at a lower area of the power
curve, the motor will be more ecient.
On top of this unprecedented power, the Falcon 500 is the most ecient motor in FRC, with a peak
eciency of 87% in trapezoidal control, and 89% in sinusoidal control. In fact, the Falcon 500 is greater
than 80% ecient across the entire FRC operating range (7A – 40A) - the best of any motor in FRC.
With this kind of power and eciency, the Falcon 500 is the perfect motor for almost any FRC application.
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SIZE & PACKAGING
As teams have been trying to build smaller and smaller robots, fitting motor
controllers has become a challenge. Since the Falcon 500 has an integrated
Talon FX motor controller, this problem is a thing of the past. The Falcon 500
dramatically changes the way teams layout their robot’s electronics and
revolutionizes their abilities to iterate their robot mid-season and
mid-competition.
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FAILURE POINT REDUCTION
Each wire connection on a robot represents a possible failure point. A loose wire, a bad crimp, something
plugged in backwards – all of these can lead to significant problems during a match. The Falcon 500 helps
reduce the number of connections (failure points) by up to 50%. This means that your robot will be more
robust than ever before. Simply plug in the Falcon 500 to your robot’s power distribution system, connect
it to CAN or PWM, and you’re ready to go! Let’s look at some examples:
The diagram to the left is what it
would look like to wire (3x) CIM
Motors and a Mag Encoder to your
robot.
Each of the (20x) orange dots
represent a connection that can fail,
causing problems for your robot in the
middle of a match.
The diagram to the right is what it looks like to wire (3x) Falcon
500 motors to your robot. Both diagrams have the same number
of motors and sensor capability.
While the brushed motor example shows (20x) possible failure
points, the Falcon 500 example has just (12x). This is a
significant reduction in the number of possible wiring problems
that can exist on a robot by switching from common brushed
motors to the Falcon 500.
What about other brushless options in FRC? Since the motor controller is integrated into the Falcon 500,
so is the sensor and sensor wiring. This means that there is no sensor cable between the motor and
controller that can become unplugged during a match, eliminating more potential failures. In addition,
the phase wiring between the controller and the motor is handled inside the Falcon 500. This makes it
impossible for teams to mismatch the motor’s phases with the motor controller’s phases, eliminating
even more failure points on a robot.
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TALON FX
The Talon FX is built upon years of development in
motor controller technology from Cross the Road
Electronics. The Talon FX is the next evolution of the
Talon family of motor controllers, which continues to
be a leader in FRC motor controller technology.
The Talon FX gives teams all the features they’ve
come to expect from a Talon motor controller,
including Follow Mode, limit switch feedback, and
on-board motion control using Motion Magic.
The Talon FX also has a 2048 CPR encoder built-in to
the controller. This means that when you buy a Falcon
500 you’re not just buying a motor and motor
controller. You’re also buying a high-resolution
encoder. For the first time in FRC history, a single
product is giving teams access to world championship caliber motion control – out of the box, with no
additional hardware needed.
Though the Talon FX does not have a Talon data port like its predecessor, the Talon SRX, teams can use a
CAN based encoder such as the Cross the Road Electronics CANCODER (P/N 19 676768) as an input
sensor for Motion Magic.
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REVERSE POLARITY PROTECTION
The single largest cause of failure in FRC motor controllers is reversing the polarity of the input power.
This means a simple wiring mistake like wiring a motor controller backwards into the PDP (Power
Distribution Power) or wiring a robot battery backwards can be a costly mistake for a team. The Falcon
500 is the first motor controller in FRC history to have reverse polarity protection built in. This means that
if you do plug the Falcon 500 in backwards, the Talon FX isn’t damaged or destroyed.
FIELD ORIENTED CONTROL (FOC)
The Talon FX is also capable of commutating the
Falcon 500 using Field Oriented Control (FOC).
This is dierent from trapezoidal commutation,
which only energizes 2 of the motor’s 3 phases at
any given moment. With FOC, the Talon FX uses
sinusoidal commutation to constantly energize all
three phases.
Energizing all three phases prevents the drop in
torque that occurs when phases switch from on to
o with trapezoidal commutation. This increases
the motor’s torque output, which increases the
power output of the motor.
A Falcon 500 running on FOC can produce up to
15% more power than a Falcon 500 running on
standard trapezoidal commutation.
FOC is only available when using the motor with a Phoenix Pro licensed Talon FX or CANivore. For more
information on Field Oriented Control, see the information on Phoenix Pro.
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PHOENIX API COMPATIBLE
The Talon FX is a Phoenix compatible device. This means that teams can program the Talon FX using their
existing Phoenix-based code with only minor changes needed.
STALL WHISTLE
When the Falcon 500 begins to stall, it will whistle an audible tone to inform the user of this event.
A SMART MOTOR FOR ALL TEAMS
The Falcon 500, powered by Talon FX has a built in 2048 CPR Encoder that teams can use to produce
reliable motion control, out of the box. This is yet another game changer in FRC.
Teams of all skill and resource levels can have advanced motion control out of the box, without having to
buy or set up additional hardware, or learn complicated programming concepts. Here’s just some of the
applications teams can do with a Falcon 500 and no additional sensor hardware:
Measure distance driven on a drivetrain - Use a Falcon 500 on a single speed drivetrain and get accurate
distance measurement without the need of an external encoder. For 2-speed drivetrains, teams should
still use an external encoder and an encoder, as the motor can’t measure the dierence in wheel speed
between high and low gear.
Position control on an arm or elevator - Use a Falcon 500 on an arm or elevator to measure the position of
an arm or elevator.
Velocity control on a flywheel shooter - Use a Falcon 500 to drive a flywheel shooter and use the
integrated encoder to measure velocity.
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