Power Distribution Board visibility for inspection

[Conor Ryan]

Post a picture of the current electronics set up.

Field personnel really need to have easy crio, radio, and main breaker accessibility. Safety is also a significant issue behind this rule.

Also if you plan on hanging, and having anything in zone 3, (even if its a 1/4" of aluminum) make sure you can turn the robot off from the ground easily.

[Grim Tuesday]

Our PD board was pretty obscured last year (we put it vertically behind our collection mechanism) and Big Al gave us a talking to at Champs. It's unlikely they won't pass you because of that considering the amount of work it would take to relocate something the magnitude of the PD board but I can guarantee you the inspectors won't be happy about it. Remember, they say it must be visible for inspection, not visible for gameplay so if you choose to have it mounted on some sort of hinged mechanism it is still legal.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Post a picture of the current electronics set up.

Field personnel really need to have easy crio, radio, and main breaker accessibility. Safety is also a significant issue behind this rule.

Also if you plan on hanging, and having anything in zone 3, (even if its a 1/4" of aluminum) make sure you can turn the robot off from the ground easily.

Main breaker, cRIO, and radio are easily accessible. Will get a pic after work

[DonRotolo]

As Grim Tuesday noted, as an inspector I would be unhappy with that, but eventually I would pass it. Good luck changing out a wire or breaker in a hurry!

[Negative 9]

Do you guys think it would be fine to mount the PDB on the underside of the robot? When the robot is flipped it would be easy to see for inspection.

[Jon Stratis]

Legal? Yes. Smart? No. As your robot bounces and hit things, the breakers could fall out if its mounted upside down.

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by Negative 9

Do you guys think it would be fine to mount the PDB on the underside of the robot? When the robot is flipped it would be easy to see for inspection.

Remember that although the slots have a pretty good grip, the only thing holding the breakers in is friction, and in that orientation gravity is working against you.

Also, ground clearance might be an issue depending on your setup. I'd hate to see you smash the PDB into the bump around the pyramids (or snag wiring on a frisbee you've run over).

[Jaxom]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Main breaker, cRIO, and radio are easily accessible. Will get a pic after work

Please do. From what it looks like in that pic, the main breaker isn't very accessable and might need to be moved. To answer your original question, I'd be very unhappy if I had to inspect that PDB location. I'm sure it'd take more time than either of us would like to finish.

But chiming in as a team member...why would you do that to yourselves? I can almost guarantee that you're going to regret that location during some point in the season.