Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilBot
Make sure the Samantha power is the FIRST thing in the power chain (not at the end of the chain after two motor controllers.)
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Have to ask the question here (because I honestly don't know the answer)
Why?
Electrically it is all the same wire. Internally in the controllers the two power connections are jumpered together...
The only reason I can come up with is that the Samantha is less tolerant of intermittent connections. And if your module is at the end of the chain, there's more chance of an intermittent connection affecting it. If, however, you make sure there are no intermittent connections in the first place, it doesn't seem necessary.
OK, you could potentially have a voltage drop over the wire, but at 13v, even with 8 motors all at stall (about 56 Amps -- maximum current) after 2 continuous feet of 16AWG wire (absolutely the worst case I could come up with) you would have a drop of only about 1 volt. Under "normal" 8 motor heavy operating situations (average 1 foot, 28 amps), your maximum drop is about 0.3v). That's not enough to cause a problem if your batteries are reasonably charged enough in the first place!