Power Converter 360 CPR

[falconmaster]

Any one know how we hook this up? Is there a diagram?

[Mark McLeod]

The wiring is very similar to last year. It just goes inline between the PD and the robot radio's barrel connector.

12v side (it's marked on the bottom) goes to the special purpose 12v wago connector built into the end of the PD by the power status LEDs, black is ground.

The 5v side goes to a barrel connector, center positive, that fits the radio.
You can cut off the barrel connector and cord from the wall-wart that came with it, or find one.

[falconmaster]

Thanks so much! I will pass it on to our electrical people!

[Alan Anderson]

The 12 volt incoming wires will fit in a Wago connector to plug into the Power Distribution Board. That's handy.

We cut the router's power cord and added a set of Anderson Powerpole connectors to both sides so we could reconnect it and still use the wall supply if we wanted to. Another Powerpole pair went on the converter's 5 volt output. We haven't tried the converter to make sure it works yet, but we'll certainly measure its output before we connect the router.

[RyanN]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

The 12 volt incoming wires will fit in a Wago connector to plug into the Power Distribution Board. That's handy.

We cut the router's power cord and added a set of Anderson Powerpole connectors to both sides so we could reconnect it and still use the wall supply if we wanted to. Another Powerpole pair went on the converter's 5 volt output. We haven't tried the converter to make sure it works yet, but we'll certainly measure its output before we connect the router.

We got ours up and running. Seems to do the job. Also, if your students have not noticed, there are labels on the back side that should make it all pretty easy. The black wire with the white stripe for the Dlink thing is the positive (+) and the regular black wire is the negative(-).

[falconmaster]

Thanks for all the info guys! I passed it all on to our electrical girls.

[caffel]

Ours only puts out 4.1 volts, not enough for the radio.
They do not supply them from the US only China. Price is reasonable.
I have a question in to FIRST about what we can substitute.

Current-Logic's P/N is TBJ12DK025Z.

Charlie Affel, 1712

[MagiChau]

You must use the same model of the power convertor that came in the kit, I believe if I remember the rules correctly.

[caffel]

Yes that's the rule R38.
Everyone needs to power their radio and our converter is broken.
Some remedy is required.

[RyanN]

Originally Posted by caffel

Yes that's the rule R38.
Everyone needs to power their radio and our converter is broken.
Some remedy is required.

Order a new one for competition. If you're not using your camera, plug the Dlink into the camera's 5V power connection and use it for now. When you get to competition, unhook it, and connect the power regulator to make your robot legal.

The current supply from the 5V output on the PD board is rated for 3A, which is plenty enough to run the Dlink. The 5V output is not a boost supply, so low battery voltage, or huge current spikes can cut power to the Dlink.

I don't see any issue in doing this. Maybe some other mentors can post and tell me their thoughts.

I know this isn't a FRC legal idea, but to get the team up and running, it seems like a good temporary idea.

[Jon236]

Can someone post a question to the Q&A? That way we can get an official 'fix'.

[Matt Krass]

Originally Posted by RyanN

The current supply from the 5V output on the PD board is rated for 3A, which is plenty enough to run the Dlink. The 5V output is not a boost supply, so low battery voltage, or huge current spikes can cut power to the Dlink.

I don't see any issue in doing this. Maybe some other mentors can post and tell me their thoughts.

I believe you hit the nail on the head here. The 5V supply is only guaranteed to regulate higher voltages safely down to 5V, and not sustain it should the battery voltage sag too much. That said, it's pretty robust and will work pretty close to the 5V mark, but none the less, a sufficiently dead battery could pose problems.

FIRST has a lot going on and simply wants to eliminate debugging radios resetting from low power from all the other stuff that breaks at the most inopportune moments for the field crew The boost supply on the 12V rail helps with that, but it was previously designed for the Linksys bridge, so we need the new converter to bridge the gap between the reliable supply, and the lower voltage radio.

Matt