Horn blowing, part II.
We have been working on creating a 'lean' operation for years. One of the big things that drive this is the number of exhibition events we do each year. Battery transportation, handling, maintenance, charging has been a big hassle but has gotten a ton better.
FRC batteries love a 2 amp charger better than the 6 amps allowed. Our 2 amp Deltran is perfect for competition but is not good for exhibition. Nor did we have a good 'lean' method for transportation. So we created a new battery management system.
As the FRC safety guidelines and OSHA rules exist, we can use our new system to move the batteries, but we cannot connect the new chargers unless FIRST provides us two more outlets. Practically speaking, that is OK, and we can live with that and just use the on-rack Deltran. It just puts batteries on the floor creating yet another type of hazard, just not electrical.
Here is an overview of the pit. Under the middle shelf is a 20 outlet power strip, 5 feet long, TrippLite.
Look under the bottom shelf and you will see a static 10 plug charging dock.
This is the new battery transportation and charging system. The interior is compartmented and cushioned.
- We daisy chained the power strips, violating the OSHA and UL rule. It is a dedicated application and we know what the power flow is. We don't have an engineering problem, just a rule problem.
- We could un-daisy chain it and send two cords out the chassis but we need a place to plug them in.
- We could cut the cords down and put them into a junction box and send one plug out the box. Cutting the cords breaks the UL approval on the strips.
- We could put in a duplex outlet in the chassis, plug the strip in and send the cord from the duplex box out of the chassis.
The cord is out the front temporarily. We are going to put a 2" hole with grommet on the back of the lid, left side, to exit to the left rear. We will do that with a Greenlee panel punch.
Another interior view
This is the original box
This thing is fantastic. It transports batteries very safely and very securely. When we are doing road show exhibition we setup in minutes.
Okay, not seen is a watt / amp meter we have in the rack. It is one of those things you get from Home Depot and you can move it around.
If we had to go to competition today and the venue provided one 15amp circuit, to be legal we use rack-power only, the battery box is transportation, we put batteries on the floor so we can trip over them. No power on the box, even though we know the current load.
My long term preference is to install a metered 'load-center' on the rack.
There are two options.
- install a real Square-D or Cutler-Hammer load center, UL approved
- install quad-outlet with a cord to plug into the venue and we plug our strips into the quad-outlet.
A cord with a quad-outlet is basically functionally the same as an outlet strip, but could be built with much higher quality components.
- Pro's - it can be built with high quality components
- Con's - it isn't UL approved but of unknown origin, possibly home built or better yet certified electrician built.
I am not in favor of teams building their own load center or simple duplex-outlet considering we still have other electrical safety issues out there. If they screw this up you are putting serious electricity out there.
I'd prefer that we find a high quality box that is UL approved and rated for this type of 'daisy chain' distribution root application.
Does anyone know of such a box ?