Ribbon Cable

[emusteve]

Ok, now to cover my real reason for loggin on...

It would appear that FIRST is again trying to prohibit the use of ribbon cable for signal wiring by specifying a minimum 24AWG conductor (<R85>). As far as my searches have gone, a 24AWG ribbon cable appears to be pure unobtanium. Also, an analysis of the PWM Y Cables included in the kit shows a 28AWG conductor!

1) Can anybody shed light on FIRST's beef with the use of standard 28AWG ribbon cable for signal wiring, or make light of the seeming dual standard?

2) Has anyone found a source for "Legal" ribbon cable incorporating 24AWG conductors, or have a source for the stuff used to make the standard IFI PWM cables?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Digikey has #24 ribbon cable.

[Joe Johnson]

I don't have a source, but I share your pain.

I love ribbon cable and have used it successfully in many applications (on FIRST robots, as a hobbiest at home, and in my day job).

I think Bob and Tony and the IFI gang have a different view of the world. If used in the wrong application or abused, ribbon cable can be the source of very tricky to solve intermittent connections.

Joe J.

[BrianBSL]

You can sometimes find three conductor 24-gauge multi-colored ribbon cable from hobby supply places or off ebay, ususally sold as "servo cable". I think the IFI cables are made with 22 gauge ribbon cable, and I have been unable to find a source for that. Digikey also sells grey 24-gauge ribbon cable (as Al stated). We stick with 3-conductor cable with a grey outside cover from Jameco and it seems to work fine, we haven't had any noise issues warranting the use of ribbon cable (since it's only 3 conductors, the whole "many wires on one cable" thing sort-of wears off).

[emusteve]

I looked in the Digikey catalog, but didn't find it. I found some 26AWG grey cable, but that's it. I also didn't find anything in Mouser, Newark, Jameco, or even with a Google search. (That came up with an awfull lot of Cat-5 though!) Can you give me a page number?

As for the Hobby Store servo cable, I haven't been able to find that in either spool form or any length mor than about 3 ft. I was hoping to find something in bulk. Buying individule cables from IFI is cheaper than our local hobby store (Rider's).

Steve

[Alan Anderson]

As for the Hobby Store servo cable, I haven't been able to find that in either spool form or any length mor than about 3 ft. I was hoping to find something in bulk.
Depending on your definition of "bulk", Hansen Hobbies (http://www.hansenhobbies.com/products_connectorparts.html) might have what you want. Among other things, they sell 10 foot lengths of 24AWG black-red-white cable.

[BrianBSL]

Now that I look at digikey, I can't seem to find it (It's been years since I ordered it), other than stuff such as P/N 82-22-6003-ND, which it lists as out of stock. However, for some reason I remember it showing up as out of stock, even though it was in stock, because it was a custom-cut product. You might want to give them a call.

Edit:

"Servo Wire" was actually the eBay search term to use. Here's what I was talking about: http://cgi.ebay.com/Hitec-Servo-Wire-50-3-Color_W0QQitemZ6008072602QQcategoryZ34063QQssPageN ameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If that link doesn't work, search for item # 6008072602.