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Unread 19-11-2012, 13:18
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Jeff Pahl Jeff Pahl is offline
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FRC #5148 (New Berlin Blitz)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Rookie Year: 2004
Location: Waukesha, WI
Posts: 344
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Re: Higher Quality Wire/Connectors

I'll second the MTW wire. We were able to get a electrical supply house to donate some to us. The flexibility is much better than THHN and you also don't have to deal with the annoying nylon outer insulation jacket.

As far as the #6 wire connections to the PD: I am very much not a fan of the screw lug terminals that come in the KOP. As a robot inspector, I'm often asked to help diagnose problems with robots that stop working on the field, or even worse are intermittent. The first thing I do is look for those terminals anywhere in the wiring (battery, 120A breaker, PD). Then gently pull on the wires, which usually come out in my hand. We use crimp lugs on all our #6 wires, I don't have the part number handy but it's similar to this: http://www.thomasbetts.com/ps/fullti...gi?part=CTL614 which we crimp with a hydraulic tool.

We buy our heat shrink at Harbor Freight. Usually with a 20% off coupon
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