Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Copioli
This is an example of what we had envisioned when designing the SRX encoder breakout.
We found that mounting a PCB directly to the Talon's housing is not without risk. Foreign objects such as wrenches, misplaced hands... would damage the PCB and sometimes the Talons data connector.
The other concern, there is no female counter part to the Data connector, at least not one that is keyed. This would make it possible to insert the breakout backwards, which could damage both the Talon and the down-stream device.
Since there is no easy way to enforce polarity we felt it would cause less stress for teams to have a breakout that was inline with the Talons wiring.
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This definitely helps explain the design but the issue I see is one of COTS and fabrication. These boards are expensive (particularly when you have 8-10 of them on a robot). It would be nice to be able to re-use them from year to year. As the rules are currently written and the fact that they are soldered connections... not sure about that. Not that it much matters being the first year for them... Just a thought.
Perhaps there is some middle ground for a design. I'd like to see a less fragile ribbon cable though and some way to make the part work from year to year or have an easy method for connecting everything... More Weidmullers (kidding)!