What is wrong with this rover?

[magnemoe]

Trying to move an rover on Ike.
Obvious fail was a lack of power so I extended the solar panels. It only have 5 electricity from the mini probe but it just spins even then I set traction to max.
Only uses electrisity then brakes is on. 
Also removed symmetry and disabled engine on front wheels. 
Mounted an reaction wheel and enabling this let it jump a bit, thought it was stuck in ground.
Jumped back to KSC some times to update stuff but no help. 

[Stamp20]

Are some of the wheel's motors reversed? You might have to set some of the motor directions to reverse instead of normal.

[magnemoe]

23 minutes ago, Stamp20 said:

Are some of the wheel's motors reversed? You might have to set some of the motor directions to reverse instead of normal.

Disabled engines on front wheels for this reason,  both rear spin in the same direction and only use power the parking brake is on

[Echo__3]

I see your probe core is upside down.

[magnemoe]

3 hours ago, Echo__3 said:

I see your probe core is upside down.

Set move direction to forward on it who probably caused it and direction should not matter for wheel movement, as in wheels behave like they don't touch the ground, not even using power unless breaks and on. 

[AlexinTokyo]

Are those wheels tilted out of the perpendicular?

I'm pretty sure that KSP wheels only have a valid collision mesh for applying power at the "bottom" of the wheel (the part that would touch the ground if mounted "normally", and having any other point in contact with the ground makes them incapable of movement.  They just spin and do nothing, exactly as you have described.

Edited May 14, 2021 by AlexinTokyo
Speeling

[Guest]

Sorry to confirm are the brakes turning on themselves?

[Dr. Kerbal]

Thanks for asking this @magnemoe. This is a great question and one I have trouble with too. I see that your rover has a reaction wheel on it. The reason why this happens because KSP has rover controls and flight controls. However these can get mixed up and there isn't a way to change this. The best way to solve this problem is to find any parts that have reaction wheels. Parts like probe core or command pods have command wheels. And for sure command wheels too. Just select these parts and make sure the reaction wheel authority is set to one or zero. This should fix some problems and your rover should stop spinning and start driving.  

On 5/13/2021 at 9:08 PM, magnemoe said:

Set move direction to forward on it who probably caused it and direction should not matter for wheel movement, as in wheels behave like they don't touch the ground, not even using power unless breaks and on. 

Oh. Im not sure about this. You might have to play with it for a little while and maybe that will fix that. Maybe. Im not sure. 

[Snark]

On 5/13/2021 at 8:26 PM, magnemoe said:

Trying to move an rover on Ike.

Your wheels are the wrong way up. The bottom of the wheel has to be on the ground.

"But it's a round wheel, they spin, it shouldn't matter what angle they're mounted at." That's correct, IRL, but that's not how it works in the game. The way the game is implemented, the wheel has a slidey patch on the bottom that has to be on the ground. The rotating-wheel visual is just eye candy and doesn't actually do anything.

On 5/14/2021 at 12:57 AM, AlexinTokyo said:

Are those wheels tilted out of the perpendicular?

I'm pretty sure that KSP wheels only have a valid collision mesh for applying power at the "bottom" of the wheel (the part that would touch the ground if mounted "normally", and having any other point in contact with the ground makes them incapable of movement.  They just spin and do nothing, exactly as you have described.

This.

[swjr-swis]

On 5/14/2021 at 6:57 AM, AlexinTokyo said:

I'm pretty sure that KSP wheels only have a valid collision mesh for applying power at the "bottom" of the wheel (the part that would touch the ground if mounted "normally", and having any other point in contact with the ground makes them incapable of movement.

29 minutes ago, Snark said:

The bottom of the wheel has to be on the ground.

 

To be more exact: it acts as a wheel if it touches ground (or something solid other than the own craft) up to an angle of 44 degrees in any direction away from the exact 'bottom'. 45 degrees and beyond, and it might as well be a strut.

(otherwise it wouldn't ever be able to drive up a slope or over small bumps/objects.)

[Irihi]

On 5/17/2021 at 10:27 AM, Dr. Kerbal said:

Thanks for asking this @magnemoe. This is a great question and one I have trouble with too. I see that your rover has a reaction wheel on it. The reason why this happens because KSP has rover controls and flight controls. However these can get mixed up and there isn't a way to change this. The best way to solve this problem is to find any parts that have reaction wheels. Parts like probe core or command pods have command wheels. And for sure command wheels too. Just select these parts and make sure the reaction wheel authority is set to one or zero. This should fix some problems and your rover should stop spinning and start driving.  

Oh. Im not sure about this. You might have to play with it for a little while and maybe that will fix that. Maybe. Im not sure. 

You just blew my mind.

So THATS why my wheeled Landers are always so tippy! 

[Snark]

On 5/17/2021 at 1:27 PM, Dr. Kerbal said:

The best way to solve this problem is to find any parts that have reaction wheels.

This is actually not the problem @magnemoe is having-- the actual problem is that the wheels aren't mounted right-way-up, as discussed above.

That said, though, there are people who do have reaction-wheel problems as you've described, such as @Irihi for example-- though this is starting to get off-topic from the OP's original problem as stated.  Some thoughts on this latter issue, therefore, in spoiler. 

Spoiler

 I'd hesitate to recommend that the way to "fix" that is to get rid of all the reaction wheels-- for example, I always make a point of putting reaction wheels on my rovers, precisely to help them maintain their orientation and not tip over easily.

Because this observation of yours is true,

On 5/17/2021 at 1:27 PM, Dr. Kerbal said:

The reason why this happens because KSP has rover controls and flight controls. However these can get mixed up

...thus the problem, but this comment is not true:

On 5/17/2021 at 1:27 PM, Dr. Kerbal said:

and there isn't a way to change this

...because that's absolutely fixable.  The issue is simply that for whatever reason, the default control settings have the rover driving controls mapped onto the same keys as the reaction wheel controls.  So all you have to do is go into your control settings to change them to two different sets of keys, and then the problem is solved.

For example, I like to map my rover-driving controls (forward, backward, steer left-right) onto the numpad instead of the WASD, since the numpad is otherwise unused by the game.

Works great. 

 

[Dr. Kerbal]

8 minutes ago, Snark said:

This is actually not the problem @magnemoe is having-- the actual problem is that the wheels aren't mounted right-way-up, as discussed above.

This, Oh. I've run into this  problem too. The only way I could think to fix this would be sending a kerbal to fix the rover. 

[Mahnarch]

On 5/19/2021 at 6:32 PM, Snark said:

 

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For example, I like to map my rover-driving controls (forward, backward, steer left-right) onto the numpad instead of the WASD, since the numpad is otherwise unused by the game.

Works great. 

 

I always remap mine, too.

 

WASD for rovers. UJKLMN (or, hUgh JacKl MaN) for docking and key pad for flight controls.

I, also, have throttle up and down on both corners of the keyboard (0 and .) so I can use either hand for anything - but, I'm ambidextrous so, mileage may vary.