[pyroslev]

Skimmed the Wiring and Samantha docs. They only recommend the separate battery only for Matrix. According to the manual, it's also the only way it's legal to have a dedicated battery for the Samantha with Matrix per RG10a.

The Tetrix Motors can stall and lead to brown out/power cycling. Rare but in rougher matches it happens. If it browns out, then the robot is down for the match. If it power cycles on it, that'll fix it and it'll run again. It is mostly caused by internal failure of the gear box. If a team has NXT motors onboard, functioning NXT motors can be helpful in diagnosing a stall.

To me, the Samantha should be as early in the power chain as possible. They use to have the Alternate Samantha Wiring guide before the new documents went up. In it, the Samantha got it's power directly after the switch before the motor controllers. You can see this on Page 22 in the Robot Wiring Guide. I would add a APP Quick connect in there so you can remove and replace the module in a hurry.

Matrix's dedicated battery pack is the greatest perk I've seen in Matrix so far. I just wish the FCS got updated so it would learn this.