Alan,
Thanks for the corrections/extra info I missed. Also:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Anderson
Or you can roll your own simple, unprotected, non-robust pseudo-Power-Over-Ethernet scheme with a pair of breakout adapters at the ends of the ethernet tether. I am definitely planning to do this.
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I was considering this as well, though the FRC legality of it is obviously unknown at this point. I hadn't brought it up because I hadn't looked up the ampacity of 24 AWG as would be in Cat5. Since it's 2.1A enclosed, and we have two pairs to work with, I think it'll be relatively sane. Provided you make certain to keep it the 12V away from the actual ethernet ports....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Anderson
Where did you get this warning? I don't remember hearing it in the main sessions, and Erik didn't mention anything about it during our somewhat lengthy discussion of the board.
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At the risk of digressing into a personal conversation, I swear I heard Chris (Jennings?) mention this early in the meeting. I can recall a fair amount of the details. Someone brought up the point that the early kits hadn't shipped with any batteries, and any rookies wouldn't have any way to power up their new controller. It was asked if they could use a bench power supply in lieu of a battery, and Chris mentioned that they'd done their testing with batteries to avoid any possible interactions between the power supplies, plus it was more realistic. (Warning is perhaps a bit strong for this) It was then noted that they assumed any rookie teams actually motivated enough to grab an early kit would be capable of buying or bumming a battery.
Now, I'll grant you that Chris isn't the expert on the PD board that Eric Van Wyk is, so he could have been extremely overcautious. I personally think the actual likelihood of a good modern bench supply generating entrainment with the PD board is very low, but I felt I should recount what I'd heard. If someone more knowledgable would like to allay any doubts about powering the system with a bench supply, I'd certainly welcome it.