Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

When i saw that we needed 6 Victors i became concern of where to ground them all. the First Wiring Diagram indicated to route them into the distribution block at the top. Since at the time we didnt think we would have enough space for 6 or more grounds we instead routed a single black 6AWG GND wire to the ATC fuse Block and then connected to the Victor Grounds from there. (blue wires)

How would a judge feel about this? is it fine, or is rerouting needed?

Re: Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

*Inspector ;)

Your wiring method is perfectly acceptable, confirmed by a post in the official FIRST Q/A forum.

Re: Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

That is fine, but your jumper from the Maxi block to the ATC fuse block is illegal.

Re: Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

You would be better off running the grounds from your drive motor victors to the din-rail ground rather than to the fuse block. Also you can take out 2 of the red din-rail blocks since you only really need 2.

-Mike

Re: Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

Osc,
As posted above the red (positive) wire may not pass through the maxi block to the ATA block. It should be easy to replace.
Although the GDC has ruled that it is OK to return your motor wiring to the ATA block, I still recommend that high current returns be terminated on the Rockwell. block. Remember that the block can accept 2 #10 or #12 wires per terminal.
Don't forget that unused sections of the block may be removed for a weight/space savings.

Re: Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

What problems might a team face if they do connect the ground returns to the ATC panel?
In other words, is it just considered "good practice" or are there some real safety concerns with doing it?

Re: Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

It's more of a performance concern, the less load there is in the wiring that provides power to the RC, the better. Sharing the RC power wires with the motor power wiring leads to excessive voltage drop at the RC and could cause it to reset, I believe.

So, run separate big fat wires from the Power Distribution Block to each of the load centers (MaxiBlock, ATC panel, Victor returns, etc)

Re: Electronics Board Wiring Concern
 

As Jim pointed out, current for a motor/Speed controller flows through both wires. Current flowing through a wire (red or black) will develop a voltage across the wire that detracts from the voltage available to the load. If you split the high current wiring as near to the battery as possible(at the Rockwell block), then less voltage is dropped to the circuits downstream. The critical component is the RC which drops out below 8 volts. When that occurs, all PWM outputs are disabled and the RC switches over to the backup battery to stay alive and keep up the modem and communications with the OI. Luckily there is some capacitance in the RC that allows it to weather short duration brownout conditions. If you have 6 drive motors and they all go into stall condition at the same time, it is easy to draw enough current to drop down to 6 or less available volts.