120 Amp Breaker Setup

[SquishyIce]

I was just looking at the game manual, and noticed that for the setup from the battery to the PDP (Page 39) there was no stated limit on how many APP connectors could be used. Does this mean that I could use 4 APP connectors as illustrated in the attached image?

[Chris_Ely]

No, see rule R25.
The one (1) ROBOT battery, Anderson Power Products (or APP) 2-pole SB type connectors, the one (1) main 120-amp (120A)
circuit breaker (Cooper Bussman P/N: CB185-120), and the one (1) Cross The Road Electronics Power Distribution Panel (PDP,
P/N: am-2856, 217-4244) shall be connected with 6 AWG wire or larger as shown in Figure 4-2.
Emphasis mine. The figure shows one connector pair, so only one can be used.

[DonRotolo]

If I were to see that as a robot inspector, it would fail.

[Richard Wallace]

I'm with Don on this one. I would be concerned about "forseeable misuse" if the battery and PDP leads were long enough to enable connecting them directly; i.e., bypassing the main breaker.

I expect Big Al would have some concerns about such a setup also. You should ask the question in the official Q&A if you anticipate wanting to actually use it on a 2015 FRC robot.

[SquishyIce]

I'm with Don on this one. I would be concerned about "forseeable misuse" if the battery and PDP leads were long enough to enable connecting them directly; i.e., bypassing the main breaker.

Got it. I never really thought about it that way. I was trying to find something to make our new elec. box more modular and transferrable between robots, and main power cable lengths seem have posed a few issues for me in the past. Good thing I checked before actually implementing it. Thanks for the help.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Squishy,
R25 The one (1) ROBOT battery, Anderson Power Products (or APP) 2-pole SB type connectors, the one (1) main 120-amp (120A)
circuit breaker (Cooper Bussman P/N: CB185-120), and the one (1) Cross The Road Electronics Power Distribution Panel (PDP,
P/N: am-2856, 217-4244) shall be connected with 6 AWG wire or larger as shown in Figure 4-2.

Good electrical practice also suggests using a minimum number of electrical contacts in a a high current circuit. Each terminal introduces series resistance and one more potential point of failure.

[SquishyIce]

Squishy,
R25 The one (1) ROBOT battery, Anderson Power Products (or APP) 2-pole SB type connectors, the one (1) main 120-amp (120A)
circuit breaker (Cooper Bussman P/N: CB185-120), and the one (1) Cross The Road Electronics Power Distribution Panel (PDP,
P/N: am-2856, 217-4244) shall be connected with 6 AWG wire or larger as shown in Figure 4-2.

Good electrical practice also suggests using a minimum number of electrical contacts in a a high current circuit. Each terminal introduces series resistance and one more potential point of failure.

Al,
Thanks for the clarification. As I have not worked all that much on high current circuits, this is useful information to me. Thank you again.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Anytime!

[_Daniel_Gonzo_]

Does this mean that I could use 4 APP connectors as illustrated in the attached image?

You could technically do that, but it has no sort of legitimate purpose or benefit. The APP connectors are primarily for Battery Connection, not for Power Distribution board connection. It would be unnecessary to cause all of that extra mess, KISS (Keep it simple stupid) (I am not calling you stupid, just saying that YES you COULD do that, but it would be utterly pointless)