Shortening Light Sensor Wires

[Liu_yiang]

Hey, does anyone know of a way to strip the black insulation off the light sensor? We need to shorten them down A LOT, but the last time I tried to lengthen the wires I almost sliced the blue and white ones off.

Tips? Tricks?

[Matt Krass]

Originally Posted by Liu_yiang

Hey, does anyone know of a way to strip the black insulation off the light sensor? We need to shorten them down A LOT, but the last time I tried to lengthen the wires I almost sliced the blue and white ones off.

Tips? Tricks?

I've had decent luck with using a knife to score a complete circle 3 or 4 times around, not actually cutting all the way through, and the firmly twisting the insulation you want to remove, it usually tears neatly along the score, and can be slipped off.

I've only done this with 6" lengths, it tends to get harder with longer bits to remove, but you could repeat the procedure a few times as necessary.

Matt

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by Matt Krass

I've had decent luck with using a knife to score a complete circle 3 or 4 times around, not actually cutting all the way through, and the firmly twisting the insulation you want to remove, it usually tears neatly along the score, and can be slipped off.

I traditionally do the same thing, only I:

1. Score (shallowly) a complete circle around the shielding.
2. Bend the wire (about 90 degrees), causing the shielding to separate where it has been scored.
3. Push a blade down SLOWLY (never "slice") into the separation until the shielding breaks apart - usually it will break apart without you having to go all the way through with your blade.
4. Bend the wire in another direction, and repeat - until the shielding has broken all the way around.

This is what I do for really large wires (that I have to manually strip) when I don't want to cut into the wire underneath, or extremely tiny wires where I'm afraid I'll cut all the way through.

-Danny

[JDL]

Really you should be using a cable slitter, or a hook blade lineman's knife for safety but a utility knife will work. Just score the jacket all the way around and twist and pull it off.

It can be done with a pair of lineman's pliers or dykes too but unless you're good at doing it that way it's real easy to screw up the conductors inside.

[cgmv123]

One of my mentor just took a razor blade and slice straight down, slowly. I don't know why he did that, but our sensors are working fine.

[ratdude747]

i wonder if a plumber's tubing cutter (wheel type) would work? i will have to try one tomorrow.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I wouldn't recommend a tubing cutter, it works for coax but not for more fragile wire. If you take a sharp knife or a razor blade, bend the wire in half, and gently rock the blade over the outside jacket until the inner wire becomes visible. Rotate the wire and repeat until you have opened the jacket all the way around. Now gently grab the wire with a hand on both sides of the open jacket and pull while sliding one hand towards the end of the cable. If you repeat this operation, the entire outer jacket can be removed.
However, I highly recommend that you leave as much wire on the sensor as possible so that when you use it next year on a different robot you have enough length to install it. Simply coil the excess cable into a tight coil and tywrap it in place, out of the way.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

However, I highly recommend that you leave as much wire on the sensor as possible so that when you use it next year on a different robot you have enough length to install it. Simply coil the excess cable into a tight coil and tywrap it in place, out of the way.

More sage advice from Big Al. I was going to have my electrical team trim them back but now, no. Thanks

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

However, I highly recommend that you leave as much wire on the sensor as possible so that when you use it next year on a different robot you have enough length to install it. Simply coil the excess cable into a tight coil and tywrap it in place, out of the way.

Excellent advice as always. Even if they don't put lines on the field next year these devices should work well as a "break beam" type sensor or optical limit/position switch when paired with a bit of reflective material. I believe that is actually the "intended" purpose of these devices.