Rookie Electrical Questions

[varunsrg]

Hey guys I am rookie this year at my robotics team. I am doing electrical. I wanted to know the basic things an electrical needs to know help build the robot. If any of you guys have like a walkthrough or some kind of website where I could get educated please post and help me. THX

[MrForbes]

Welcome to the fun of build season!

First place to look is at FIRST

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...nt.aspx?id=452

Section 8 - The Robot is mostly what you need, be sure to download and read all of this stuff! The rules are most important, but the Power Distribution Diagram and Tips, Guidelines and Good Practices document explains how to wire up the robot and important info about motor selection, etc.

[JesseK]

Big tip: make sure you use the proper gauge wire for the motors and other components. The rules for wire gauges are there for a purpose, and that purpose to prevent you from inadvertently catching your robot on fire due to a bad gauge + bad crimp combination.

To get you started, the first thing we do is crimp quick-disconnect connectors to the end of every motor, victor, and spike. This gives us practice with stripping/crimping, which may not be a glorious job but there are noticable (10-20%) robot performance differences if you're good vs. bad at it. It will also allow you to quickly change the configuration of your electronics board setup.

Pegboard + zip ties is a great way to quickly mock the board up as well.

[team1203 4life]

some advice dont lable your wires with ductape because the judges will flip out and make you take it off cause ductape is illegal

some other advice is for you to get out will you still can run away run far away before you lose your mind like the rest of us

[David Brinza]

The best resource available to all teams is the :
Guidelines, Tips and Good Practices Manual

This document is the closest thing to an instruction manual for building the robot. If you follow the guidelines here, you should have few problems with the grumpy robot inspectors such as myself.

[clark_noah]

keep your electrical board organized.... this was a big problem for our team, because when everything is confusing, it is hard to re-connect wires if they do fall off...

[keen101]

Originally Posted by clark_noah

keep your electrical board organized.... this was a big problem for our team, because when everything is confusing, it is hard to re-connect wires if they do fall off...

Yes, that is the best advice you can get. keep your electronics organized and very accessible. (also have plenty of extra PWM's)



also this may come in handy.
http://www.ifirobotics.com/frc-robot...overview.shtml

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by team1203 4life

some advice dont lable your wires with ductape because the judges will flip out and make you take it off cause ductape is illegal

some other advice is for you to get out will you still can run away run far away before you lose your mind like the rest of us

That is not true:

Originally Posted by Section 8: The Robot

<R38> Adhesive backed tapes shall not be used as a structural fastener, or to connect two or
more parts together. Adhesive backed tapes may only be used as follows:
• Textured or coated tapes may be used to provide an alternate surface finish or treatment to a
portion of the ROBOT.
• Velcro tape, any hook and loop tape or double-sided sticky foam may be used for attaching
components to the ROBOT.
• Reflective tape may be used with optical sensors in small amounts.
• Adhesive backed tape and labels may be used for labeling purposes on wires, cables,
pneumatic lines, etc.
• Electrical tape may be used as an electrical insulator.

(Emphasis mine)

You may want to bring a printout of this rule with you though, it is very possible to get inspectors who don't know the rules very well (I've had it happen at least twice). Also, based off of the posts on CD, tape-related rules seem to be the most inconsistently enforced of the inspection rules.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

So that no one will be confused...
The no duct tape rule comes from on high and is not part of the robot rules. It is a well known and long held belief that Dean does not want duct tape to appear on FIRST robots. Other adhesive backed materials will be evaluated per the rules by your inspectors.

[Pavan Dave]

To answer all of your questions and even more please click on the following link:
http://first.wpi.edu/2007CON_Wiring_...rkiewicz.pd f

That link is a presentation to help teach/show all rookies how the electronics should be done, or at least gives examples to be used as a guideline for your own robot.

Enjoy!

[maltz1881]

http://www.team1322.org/electrical.htm

This is a great place to start after you read the manuel. One of our mentors is a master electrican and he expects perfection on the board. He should actually be part of an inspection crew. Good luck and have a great time this year!

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

So that no one will be confused...
The no duct tape rule comes from on high and is not part of the robot rules. It is a well known and long held belief that Dean does not want duct tape to appear on FIRST robots. Other adhesive backed materials will be evaluated per the rules by your inspectors.

Sorry to contradict Al, but this one needs to be emphasized: the ONLY official rules are the ones published by FIRST. There are no "secret" or "hidden" rules. If it does not say it in the manual, it isn't a rule. The idea that "you can't have duct tape anywhere on the robot because Dean doesn't like it, and that is all the justification we need" is an urban legend that needs to be killed immediately. If inspectors are enforcing this legend, then they need to be - politely and respectfully - informed that they are in error and their belief in the "rule" is incorrect.

-dave

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by dlavery

The idea that "you can't have duct tape anywhere on the robot because Dean doesn't like it, and that is all the justification we need" is an urban legend that needs to be killed immediately. If inspectors are enforcing this legend, then they need to be - politely and respectfully - informed that they are in error and their belief in the "rule" is incorrect.

-dave

I stand guilty but now corrected.

[team1203 4life]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

That is not true:
(Emphasis mine)

You may want to bring a printout of this rule with you though, it is very possible to get inspectors who don't know the rules very well (I've had it happen at least twice). Also, based off of the posts on CD, tape-related rules seem to be the most inconsistently enforced of the inspection rules.

whatever in 2006 some referee made us take the ducttape lables off of our robot

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by team1203 4life

whatever in 2006 some referee made us take the ducttape lables off of our robot

I'm not debating that that happened. In 2005 our inspector at the Championship made us rewire all our Victor fans because we had wired them per IFI's instructions, which was a practice s/he objected to (The electronics were massive rats nest after that little adventure). We've had a pair inspectors spend quite a while examining a FP gearbox while consulting back and forth with each other to determine if a little shaving/sanding in order to mount it was legal (when the rules clearly stated we could do pretty much whatever we wanted with the gearbox). It is best to go into an inspection knowing the rules very well, rule knowledge varies from inspector to inspector; all you can be certain of is that you know that you built your robot to the rules, and have the evidence to prove it.