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Unread 03-12-2004, 19:59
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Sparks333 Sparks333 is offline
Robotics Engineer
AKA: Dane B.
FRC #1425 (Wilsonville Robotics)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: Wilsonville, Oregon
Posts: 184
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Re: Neat & Organised Electric Wiring

Hi!
I really can't talk too much (our robot's wiring job was TERRIBLE!!!) but here's some good ideas.

1) Use plugs. If you use, say, a Molex connector, then if you have to pull a component or even an entire board, you just disconnect it. My team is after me to modularize the entire electronics board, so this seems like a reasonable idea. It is, however, one more thing to go wrong.

2) SOLDER WHENEVER POSSIBLE!!!! I really don't care if you have crimp fetishes or only have crimps or if you have already crimped a wire. Crimps fail much more often than solder jobs. (Last year for our main connector to the battery, we used crimps tightened down in a vice, then we heated it with a blowtorch and put lots of solder on it. Worked like a charm, and looked cool too.)

3) Never, and I mean never, put a wire under stress and expect it not to come out. If you have a 12" gap and an 11" wire, then go get yourself a 13" wire, dangit! Vibrations can wear through wires, pinch sections can cut wires, and tension can pull your connectors right out. USE A LONGER WIRE THAN WHAT SEEMS REASONABLE! it may weigh more, but it will work.

Neatness and orgainization is a very valuable thing to have on a robot. It streamlines repairs, diagnostics, and makes the robot look good. And your team will love you for it.

Sparks
__________________
ICs do weird things when voltage is run out of spec.

I love to take things apart. The fact that they work better when I put them back together it just a bonus.

http://www.ravenblack.net/random/surreal.html