Re: The importance of clean wiring
 

Neat wiring is a result of careful planning and attention to detail. Careful planning and attention to detail results in accurate work. Accurate work results in good performance and high reliability.

Neat wiring makes troubleshooting and repairs much easier. It looks nice, too.

I am a neat wiring fanatic. The kids don't always get it, but they are kind and humor me. I was almost pleased with this wiring job.

Don

Re: The importance of clean wiring
 

Don't forget that the power delivered to your motors is inversely proportional to the resistance in your wiring (P=(V^2)/R). Neat, clean wiring with the shortest wire length (that is practical) along with clean, proper crimps gives you more pushing power or speed than someone that has done a poor wiring job. :)

Re: The importance of clean wiring
 

Last year the power distribution and speed controllers were mounted to one nice board and the wires were all set. Then two days before shop the panel was cut in half to make room for support for the arm. This meant remounting and re wiring the controls.

I had needed to leave for a few hours and when I had returned our team lead had tried to wire it (He is mechanical and basically new nothing about the electrical). The result was wires running everywhere and not enough time to rewire and make it look better.

I made it better this year:
http://www.geocities.com/pyrr101/Board_Layout.jpg

Re: The importance of clean wiring
 

Yeah, but will a foot or two of 12-guage wire really add that much resistance? It seems like the effects would be negligible.

Re: The importance of clean wiring
 

yeah. a clean bored is important for ease of working on it and it makes the whole robot more popular with judges, but i like it for the self satesfaction since I do our teams wiring. THis year, since I'm a senior, I've been trying to bring a freshie up to meet the challenge next year. but i definately love trying to make a really cool, functional, and neat little package. the challenge is trying to make it look awesome in as a small area as possible

Re: The importance of clean wiring
 

It can! Especially if you have a motor out on an arm or something longer than a a foot or two.

Not to mention that in a FIRST application you have the following connections:
battery to battery connector
main breaker to fuse block
fuse block to speed controller
... etc...

Some of these connections have more than one contact point as well, it can add up. (Take a look at the exact number of times current would need to pass from one piece of metal into another between the battery and the main breaker).