Quote:
Originally Posted by philso
Wow! That is really neatly done. I especially like how you used the Igus chain as a flexible wiring channel. For the last two years, we used the same sort of labels you are using and it was a big help in troubleshooting.
How will this be installed in your robot? Will the snap-action breakers be visible once the panel is mounted in its intended location? Will the status LED's on all those components be easily visible? Will the various terminal blocks be accessible for repair work and for modifications? Some of them require a use of a tool. Will you be able to get the required tools in? Did you use nuts on those screws and will the nuts be accessible (we had a real problem with this last season)? Is it sufficiently easy to plug an Ethernet cable into the router for operating in tether-mode? Will you be able to hold on to the battery cable well enough to disconnect the battery without jerking on the cables going to the breaker and PDP? Have you done a pull-test on all of the connections?
The radius of the bends in the 6AWG look very small, especially at the PDP end. I could only find tables and guides for the much larger wires that we use at work and they recommend a bend radius of at least 4 x the cable diameter. Bending the cable too tightly can break the strands inside.
If this panel will be mounted against a metal panel and/or in the very bottom of your chassis, it would be best to mount your router somewhere else.
You should allow some slack in your wiring to allow for repair work and troubleshooting. Specifically, the CAN wires between the RoboRio and the PCM and the power cable from the VRM and your router. Keeping your wiring short is good but there is such a thing as "too short"
It would be best not to route wires over the access points for terminal blocks like with the Ethernet cable.
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This will be mounted on the top of our robot. We plan on using lexan and 3d printed parts to make a lid with access ports for the either net, fuses, breaker, etc.
How the board will exactly mount to the chassis is being debated. To get the tight radius on the wires, we bent them before crimping the connectors. This way, the stands were aloud to shift around the radius (the inside wires of the bend were longer then the outside, naturally). The CAN wire is longer then what it looks like, it is beneath the radio. All of the wires that leave the board are 2 feet long.
We had a discussion about pull testing the ends, and I can assure you that all of them were yanked on multiple times.
The battery connection has changed since the picture, it now bends around under the board were it will be mounted to a plastic block else on the robot.