Sorry, I think I just found an answer to one of my questions:
<R87> 12 AWG or larger diameter wire must be used for all circuits protected by a 40A circuit breaker.
.. Looks like someone's going to be working morning of competition
Or maybe the CIMS can work off the 30A circuit breakers?? So much for the Maxi style breakers then.. Hmm.. we'll see.
(there was no prior electronics knowledge on our team .. almost everything was trial and error, mostly with some reasoning behind it

, dont worry, we were being safe!)