Battery Connection
 

Hey Im part of a rookie team who rashly tried to put together an electric board today, but got really stumped on connecting the quick-disconnect wires to the battery
I tried searching for a solution to now avail, maybe my search words aren't sufficient

Please help me, preferably with some kind of diagram or picture, so that tomorrow our team can put attempt to put together a hasty electric board. Does anyone mind sharing their electric board? I took a look at the Power Distribution Diagram, but now Im really confused about what kinda breakers I need (do I need a maxi?)

sorry for the million ?s, Thanks for your help in Advanced

-Neel 2554

Re: Battery Connection
 

alright first of all for the battery quick disconnect attach the positive and negative wires with what is called a brass connector you can bolt it onto the battery itself and there is an area for you to insert the wire into the connector and tighten it down. second of all you do need a maxi well preferablly a maxi is the shiny one with the clear case use this to give positive power to your speed controllers for everything else use just the regular fuse panel.

Re: Battery Connection
 

You have two options.

One is to use what they supply in the kit. In the kit are screw down ring connectors. They should be all copper with screws to accept the wires.

The other (and better) option is to buy ring connectors from Home Depot (or other similar vendor). Go down the electrical aisle and you should see heat shrink tubing, tie wraps, and ring connectors. The best are the solder versions.

Something that looks like this:
http://www.tnb.com/ps/fulltilt/index.cgi?part=T186R

Make sure you get it in the proper wire size for your wire. (that's #4 for the quick disconnect) Also, make sure you use heat shrink after you solder it on.

-JEE

Re: Battery Connection
 

you want to put the victors for your drive train on maxi. most motors will be put on victors, but if they aren't on the drive train, you probably won't need them on the maxi

there should be some silver or copper connectors in the KOP. use the screw to tighten them on the wire, then use a tortch to heat up the wire w/ the connector on it and put lots of solder in it. then just bolt them onto the correct battery terminals. our EE mentor put a few on backwards last year :P

Re: Battery Connection
 

Neel,
You need to first consult the robot section of the manual, and the Tips and Guidlines document. There is some great info in both of these. Download them and keep them on your computer, you will need to refer to them often.

The KOP has several crimp terminals for #6 wire and a bag (in the Burndy Bag) of screw clamp lug terminals. Find the clamp type terminals, they are silver in color and have a screw, a collar and a tab with a mounting hole. The bag may say KP4AC on it. You can use a utility knife to remove about 3/8" of the insultaion from the #6 wire attached to the Anderson 50 amp quick disconnect connectors. Don't use a slicing motion when removing the insulation. Simply lay the blade on the wire and gently rock the blade until it meets the wire inside. Repeat until you have a separation around the entire wire. If you gently bend the wire at the cut you should see the bare wire inside. Lay the wire down on the workbench and place your knife parallel to the wire and pointing towards the cut end of the wire. Gently push the blade of your knife parallel to the wire until you cut through the insulation. This will allow you to remove the insulation. Insert the stripped wire into the open terminal opposite the tab and between the clamp and the tab. The wire should not be touching the screw. See attached picture. Tighten the screw to clamp the wire. You can complete the connection with solder if you wish. Heat up the collar of the clamp until solder melts and starts to flow when placed at tab end of the terminal. Only allow enough solder to flow to wet the wire and the terminal but not so much that you see solder flowing under the wire insulation. When cool, insulate with heatshrink tubing or electrical tape. When you attach to the battery, I use an external tooth star washer between the KP4 tab and the battery terminal. When you tighten the mounting hardware, the star washer prevents the two terminals from moving against eah other. Insulate with elctrical tape or heatshrink so that no metal is exposed.
Referring to the electrical wiring diagram, connect the other end as shown to the Rockwell block and 120 amp circuit breaker. Then connect the other breaker panels as needed using the diagram as a guide.
A rule of thumb for wiring is to make everything only as long as absolutely needed. We trim the wiring for the battery side down to just a few inches. Every inch of wire relates to loss. The more wire you use the less amount of power will be delivered to your motors and the RC.