Splitting the Rockwell Power Distribution Block

[aaeamdar]

Can the Rockwell Power Distribution Block be split into multiple such blocks? I'm not finding a rule that prohibits this. Things I've looked at:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61981&
http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=8539&

The power distribution block must be directly connected to the APP connector and main
120-amp circuit breaker.

Thanks,
Paul Dennis
1719

[Bluephlame]

To the best of my knowledge, yes it is legal although personally, I wouldn't do it until you are 100% certain that you won't need more blocks.

[ALIBI]

I hope so, that is exactly what we did. We could not find anything that said you couldn't do that either. We split between red and balck distribution. The only thing we did was make sure that we had a gray block on the ends of both din rails. It actually made wiring neater as the reds were on one side of the robot and the blacks were on the other side. Much easier to trace for the inspectors too. I'll keep watching this post to make sure that we are legal or if we need to question the GDC or if someone can show us that it is not legal. Good post!

[MrForbes]

You might look at the Power Distribution diagram (http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FRC/FRC_Documents_and_Updates/2008_Assets/Manual/2008_Robot_Power_Distribution_Diagram.pdf) and think about how you will attach the 3 grey end blocks that you have to two separate blocks, and still cover both ends of each one. I would suggest looking for a Q&A post on this issue, and if there are none, ask yourself.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

The splitting of the block(s) and the cutting of the yellow jumpers were allowed last year as answered in the Q&A. This year's documents do not reflect that as you have pointed out. I would suspect a change is in the works. Please watch your Team Updates in the future.