Quote:
Originally Posted by thinker&planner
Fixed by zip tying the connectors together.
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I have been told for years that the SB50 connectors should be zip-tied together, but still don't quite agree.
If you find the connector pulling apart, SOMETHING is doing it. It won't happen spontaneously.
Your wires may be too short and/or your battery may be moving around within the robot. Both are problems that should be corrected by something other than adding a zip tie.
Someone always says "I've seen matches where the battery fell out and was dragged by the power cables across the field." If that happened, I'd rather have the connector come apart and disable the robot. You're going to get an E-stop anyway.
If zip-tying the connector makes a problem go away, you are really masking the problem. You have something wrong with the connection. The SB-50 connectors are very reliable and are designed for exactly this purpose.
That doesn't mean they can't fail, but failure is usually due to wear, mis-assembly, or abuse. You can't take them for granted. You need to check them and spot any potential problem. It all comes down to attention to detail.
The fact that they come pre-assembled doesn't mean that one can't be mis-assembled. The mating surfaces inside can be scratched and pitted by connecting things with clip leads, etc. (This is why the rules now state that battery chargers must be fitted with a matching SB-50 connector.)