610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

Hi CD,

We've been working hard over the past few days to get this ready for public consumption, so here it is! It's not entirely done yet, but we wanted to get a picture out before anything goes on top :) Feel free to comment and ask questions, I'm not sure how much I will respond though :rolleyes:

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

So where do the Jaguars go? :rolleyes:

I think you might need a few more compressors.

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

I'd post R79, but I think you know that already.

Something I find interesting: you probably inspired a lot of teams to use 6 CIM drivetrains with your robot from last year, and with all of the new ones popping up in 2014 you only have 4.

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

Needs more compressors.

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

I see 4 cims 2 minis, they are hiding :D
Looking really good though. Cant wait to see it in action

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

oooh, I missed that... you win!

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

No, 4 is enough. Now they just need a WINpump.

I keep forgetting just how easy it is to mix up jaguars and compressors. Happens all the time.

Just like that time we miscounted how many motors were on our drivetrain? Remember that?

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

Actually, it needs more pressure relief valves.

(Says the tech inspector in me...)

Jason

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

610 building a West-Coast drive! Blasphemy!

It must be because Mikey and I are in San Francisco for build this year :ahh:

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

I hate it when that happens!

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

I like the rectangular tube gearboxes. God only knows what the crazy mechanism is going to go where those compressors are.

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

First off, this is an absolutely spectacular electronics board. If my team makes one that is 1/3 as good, I will be proud of them. I do have a few questions though:
1. I have always been concerned about having anything in contact the drive motors since they can get very hot. Obviously, since you have wires attached to the top of the CIMs, this is not a concern for you. Do your CIMs not get very hot because of the gearing and/or the load sharing over 3 motors? Or have you tested these motors under high loads for extended periods without seeing any problems with the contacting material.

2. What are those red connectors between the motors and their respective speed controllers? Also, why do you use them instead of cutting the motor wire to length and connecting it right onto the speed controller?

3. Where do you intend to place the remaining pneumatic components? Will there be space directly above the compressor for them?

4. Why did you opt to use the old digital module to sidecar cable instead of the ribbon cable? Is it because of the placement of the sidecar and cRIO right next to each other?

5. Did you cut to length and crimp all of the PWM cables yourself?

6. What is that thing at the top of the PD Board? And why does it have a PWM cable coming out of it?

7. Why are your two non-drive speed controllers attached to 30 amp breakers instead of 40 amp breakers? Are you concerned about the total current draw of 8 40 amp motors?

7. Will there eventually be a mechanism in the space of the 4 compressors? If so, did you design the board specifically to save this space? Or are you just so efficient in your wiring that you have 4 compressors worth of excess space just to show off? :p

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

Thanks for the kind words :)

We ran a similar system with our drivetrain last year (pig-tailing the motor leads on to the motors) and although the motors do get warm, we never ran into issues with melting the insulation or anything like that.

The red (and black) connectors are Anderson Power Poles. We find them to be better versions of quick disconnect crimps. In terms of swapping out a broken component, it means all we will ever have to do is change the motor or speed controller without re-doing any wires. It also means that we can cut all of our motor leads to the same length (off of the robot), and then make the appropriate length run (also off of the robot) with ordinary spool wire instead of worrying about affecting the CIMs.

They will go where the sideways large compressor appears in the picture, and where the furthest right vertical compressor appears.

It has a lot to do with the placement of the cRIO, and ribbon cables are a pain to make. Unless vertical space above the cRIO becomes an issue, we figured why not use something that was already assembled for us.

Yes.

It's a gyro sitting on top of a custom 3-D printed mount attached with double-sided tape.

We just figured that the application of those motors shouldn't draw more than 30 amps and that we could preserve the other 40 amp slots for spares/other applications.

As I mentioned we will be putting the rest of the pneumatic components there, and likely a few more Talons. We also knew that there would be a bit of a mechanism dropping down into the electronic board space so we tried to preserve as much as possible. As it turns out the mechanism will be centered against the frame opposite the battery.

Re: 610 Electronics Board Teaser
 

4?? I see 5! Haha.