Troubleshooting

Connection, motor-control, settings, and update checks for SystemCore and standalone USB-C.

No Cyclone appears through SystemCore

1. Confirm the robot is powered and SystemCore is reachable.
2. Check the Cyclone’s red and black power wires, its breaker or fuse, and the status lights.
3. Check that the supplied CAN connectors are fully plugged into the robot’s CAN bus loop. CAN H (yellow) connects to yellow, and CAN L (green) connects to green. Check the terminators at the two ends; see CAN wiring.
4. Check for a duplicate device number. Blue flashing end lights indicate a detected conflict.

No Cyclone appears over USB-C

1. Use SWYFT Link in Google Chrome on your laptop. Choose Connect over USB-C to open the serial-port chooser.
2. If no port appears, check that the cable carries data; a charging-only cable will not work. Try another USB port or a known data cable.
3. If Chrome cannot open the port, close any serial monitor or other SWYFT Link tab using that Cyclone, then reconnect.
4. Confirm the device and firmware once connected. USB alone can connect and update; running the motor also needs the 12 V battery connection.

The motor appears but does not move

Read the message explaining why the command was rejected or why the motor stopped. For SystemCore control over CAN, check Driver Station state and that your code uses the correct device number and sends fresh commands. For standalone USB-C testing, Driver Station and CAN are not required; check the motor enable state in SWYFT Link and the 12 V battery connection. Velocity and position require tuning values called gains; see Closed-loop control. Check supply voltage during the command, not only while idle.

Use one command source at a time. Robot code and a SWYFT Link control session should not compete for the same motor. Disable before changing the setup.

USB-C test control (firmware 1.7.1 and later): Standalone USB-C testing needs no Driver Station. Once the Cyclone receives a robot heartbeat or a CAN Disable broadcast, robot permission is required for USB-C motion too. DS Disable, universal CAN Disable, and loss of the robot heartbeat stop output. Restore permission, check the mechanism, then select ENABLE again; re-enabling Driver Station alone does not restart the USB test. Unplugging CAN does not remove this requirement. Power-cycle in an isolated setup for standalone testing. The active control connection must release the motor before the other connection can drive it. See switching control connections.

It slows down or stops under load

Compare applied duty, current, voltage, and temperature. Current limiting can reduce duty; temperature can reduce the stator current limit; low voltage or a hard fault can stop output. Inspect the battery, connections, mechanism friction, and gearing before increasing limits.

Settings change after a restart

Confirm the configuration write succeeded and supported settings were saved. Coast or Brake, position acceleration and position cruise speed reset when the motor restarts. USB-C velocity acceleration is saved only after its save confirmation succeeds. The gear ratio and wrapping options are stored in your robot program. Set these options again at startup. Check live current limits after cycling robot power.

Acceleration or cruise speed will not apply

These fields require the USB-C app. Check the selected mode and its range and units; Velocity and Position have different acceleration limits. Wait for a confirmed value. If the field says Unknown, reconnect or use Read settings again after the error. If the app reports a save failure, keep output disabled and read the setting again: it may be applied for this session but not saved. Position acceleration and cruise speed always reset on reboot.

Lights show unexpected colours

First distinguish the two end status lights from the five user lights. Check whether robot code or a SWYFT Link LED preset is setting the user lights, and compare the end lights with the status patterns. If unexplained colours appear while communicating over USB, check for the current firmware, which includes a correction to LED communication. If it continues, record the pattern, firmware version, connection and what the app was doing, and contact support. An unexpected colour alone does not identify a motor fault.

A firmware update fails

Keep the error message and note whether failure occurred during erase, write, verify, or reconnect. Maintain robot power and the connection. If the application returned, check its version before attempting another update. Follow Firmware & DFU for the next step.

For help beyond these checks, contact SWYFT Support or email support@swyftrobotics.com. Include the details below.

Information to include when requesting help

• Cyclone firmware, SWYFT Link package version, and Java library version.
• Device number and whether you are connected through SystemCore CAN or USB-C.
• The exact message and LED pattern.
• The command or action that caused the problem.
• Voltage, current, and temperature when it happened, plus whether other mechanisms were running.