What is instant reversing?

Hi!

I was looking at the specs for the GHM-04 motor, and at the bottom it says:

“12. The gear motor is not intended for instant reverse.
The gear motor must be stopped before reversing.”

What exactly does this mean?
Does it mean you have to stop the gear motor before you can switch poles?

I would be grateful if you could enlighten me.
:smiley:

Thanks!

I would think it means you cant tell it to go reverse when it is going forward. You probably have to send a command to stop the motor, then a command for reverse. :open_mouth:

Thats just what I would think it would be. I really dont know.

I would interpret that as they don’t want you going from full field in one direction to full field in the other. That is really hard on brushes and the gear train to do that. :open_mouth:

Yeah that might be what it means.

How should I do if I want to be able to do an instant reverse?
Would the motor/gear sustain a lot of damage if one were to instant reverse it?

It probably depends on your definition and time requirements of “instant”.

Well, as fast as possible. The motors are intended to be used for a sumo. So it will need to be able to stop as fast as possible. Before driving out of the ring.

What it really means is the motor manufacturer doesn’t want to replace motors if they are abused. As a reseller, I don’t want to either. lol It’s always a good idea to use acceleration and deceleration with mobile bots. But I agree that sumo is best fought by moving as fast as possible. The hsiang neng motors are very tough. I have never broken a gear doing instant reverse. Your mileage may vary. Also the warning is on ALL of their spec sheets. I really think it’s a cover your butt thing because some of their motors (we don’t carry these) are fragile… The hennkwell motors come with a replacement metal gear if the plastic one is broken. I like the quiet sound the motor has with the plastic gear. But if you are using them for sumo I would definitely use the metal gear.

Thanks for you answer Robot Dude; I take it as doing instant reverse will probably work but it is not “supported” by the manufacturer.