Powering the 2CAN 2.0

[nighterfighter]

Hi guys-

We got our new 2CAN 2.0 (after having a lot of problems using the serial to CAN last year) and I'm about to start hooking it up, however I have a quick, probably easy, question.

How do you supply power to it? I know it gets plugged into a 12V slot with a 20A breaker, but what connector do I use? It says it accepts a push-in type power connector that accepts up to 16 gauge wire, but what does that mean?

I'm assuming it is a bad idea to just shove some wire in there.

[Alan Anderson]

The 2CAN I saw last year included a power cable. Have you looked in the corners of the box to make sure you didn't miss it?

[nighterfighter]

Ours did not come with one, I checked everywhere in the box.

The 2CAN Adapter came in a plastic bag, which was in the Cross the Road Electronics Box.

[mikets]

2CAN v1 has a pig tail power cable but 2CAN v2.0 has a power connector on the side. We have 2CAN v1 so I can't tell you for sure how it works but from the description, it sounds like you just push a 16-guage wire into the connector probably similar to the wago connectors.

[WizenedEE]

You simply push 16 (or 18) gague wire into the connector. Strip it back a quarter inch and it just goes in to the bottom part of the connector. On ours, you could yank it as hard as you want and it wouldn't come out, so make sure it's not just loose.

[nighterfighter]

Okay, great thanks! I got it installed just now, thanks for the help.

It looked like it needed a connector...

So out of curiosity, how do you remove the wires if needed?

[mikets]

If it's like a wago connector, there should be a release mechanism where you insert some sort of flat blade to release the wire.

[Mike Copioli]

Push in the white button located on the power connector to remove the wire.

[RyanN]

I have a related question regarding the 2CAN.

It accepts 6-28VDC for its power supply. Being a high-risk component for any robot, why is it that we cannot connect it to the 24V output for the cRIO (Just as the solenoid module does), or from the 12V output for the Dlink.

My thinking is... we get in a bad pushing match and our battery voltage droops (that and the other PD board outputs are extremely noisy). The battery voltage droops below the 6V threshold, and the 2CAN resets. What happens to the cRIO? Will it freeze because it lost communication with the 2CAN? Could the 2CAN recover?

So basically... I know that it's supposed to plug into the PD board's regular outputs and should be protected by a 20A breaker. R43 says that only the cRIO and solenoid breakout board(s) can connect to the 24V output, and R44 says only the wireless bridge can connect to the 12V boost output on the PD board. By these rules, connecting it up the way I want is illegal.

Should connected the 2CAN to the regular PD board outputs concern me? I'm assuming that Cross The Road electronics built a good power regulating circuit into the 2CAN to handle with all the back EMF, unstable voltages, and whatnot on the robot to perform correctly.

[mjcoss]

I was kinda of hoping to see an answer. I'm also concerned about this and was thinking of a 12v-12v dc dc converter, but I was thinking that it might be considered a violation of "stored power". Ultimately, I don't think the 2CAN is *not* going to be the point of failure if the voltage drops below 6v but ....

I'm more concerned about the brown outs on the Jaguars which do unfortunately happen on many robots.

[simpsonboy77]

Originally Posted by mjcoss

I was kinda of hoping to see an answer. I'm also concerned about this and was thinking of a 12v-12v dc dc converter, but I was thinking that it might be considered a violation of "stored power". Ultimately, I don't think the 2CAN is *not* going to be the point of failure if the voltage drops below 6v but ....

I'm more concerned about the brown outs on the Jaguars which do unfortunately happen on many robots.

A 12v-12v dc-dc converter does not store any power, so it shouldn't violate the storing of power issue. Technically the converter will have capacitance and store some energy, but that energy is coming from the one and only 12V 18AH battery on your robot. When you turn off the robot this energy is fairly rapidly bled off.

As long as the converter is powered by the PDB it would be considered a custom circuit. You can call the 2can a custom circuit as well, and combine the converter and the 2can to be considered one larger custom circuit powered by the 12v 20A breaker on the PDB. This custom circuit would still be allowed based on R69, and R72.

If you have an idea on why it would not be legal, I'd like to hear it.