Re: [FTC]: Anderson Powerpole Question
 

Their logic on the different connector for the battery may have been that nobody would ever need to plug the battery into any place other than where the battery goes, and that many modules had been smoked by plugging in a recharged battery into the wrong place. Keeping 2 connectors actually simplifies things for the person plugging in a fresh battery.

It also prevents teams who have old parts from having to rewire their batteries or make adapters.

The need for interoperability with legacy systems always seems to mess things up. There is an old story that relates the size of the Space Shuttle all the way back to the width of a horse's rear-end in ancient Rome. Snopes talks about it here: http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp

FIRST has to balance many teams in many different situations. Things that help me with a rookie team drive my best friend nuts with his long-established team. (He still opposes allowing EV3s into competitions.)

Andrew

If anyone can not get PowerPoles to work, look for any car with Amateur Radio / Radio Operator license plates. (Search Google for what they look like in Your state.) The driver will almost certainly help You with PowerPoles, or refer You to someone who can. We HAMs have been using PowerPoles for many years. We almost always want to help, especially if electricity is involved.

Or, search for Amateur Radio clubs in Your area.

Re: [FTC]: Anderson Powerpole Question
 

Talking with the FTC reps at Worlds, the reason that they stayed with the Tamaya connecter was cost. It wasn't really in issue of putting a connector on the Power Box, but having to change out the batteries as well. Along with that, it would allow teams to use the old batteries from past years, without having to change the connection. Over half the teams out there still use the tamaya connector. In Arizona for example, only 6 out of the 60+ teams from the 14-15 season, had their batteries changed to the PowerPoles. (2 of them are my teams, 1 of them was a team we helped out using all of our older parts and our batteries..(haha, running three teams on 10 batteries was interesting.))

Of course its something that every team should do, but some teams can't afford it. Hopefully that is not such a problem this year though, as most of the new control system uses the Power Poles.

My teams are looking at setting up a station at every event in Arizona to switch everyone over / test batteries. (Like you would see at worlds)

About the batteries being plugged in wrong. According to the reps that I talked to at Worlds, even if you plug a battery into the motor ports (etc), there is a "fail safe" (Don't know the actual term) that will stop the flow of electricity into the box. (Granted, I'm not about to try it out when my teams get their boxes.)

Re: [FTC]: Anderson Powerpole Question
 

Green Nissan Cube with the K3FXS plates. I don't carry the connectors and crimp tool all the time, but happy to help. They are in my shop no more than an hour away.

I tried in the start of this thread to help, asked about how they put them together bud didn't get an answer. So I went off to work on other problems.