pic: 1538 Wiring 2/4/2013

[connor.worley]

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[theawesome1730]

Very nice. May I ask how you manage PWM lengths? Are they custom made or do you just hide the extra cable very well?

[connor.worley]

Originally Posted by theawesome1730

Very nice. May I ask how you manage PWM lengths? Are they custom made or do you just hide the extra cable very well?

Custom-made. We estimate the lengths with about 1" extra when we're laying out the cables, and then cut to exact length when we terminate them.

[jp1247]

Hehe, I like the battery box filled with several hundred dollars worth of modules

[Aidan S.]

This is very impressive, Great job! How did you guys manage labelling wires?

[Iaquinto.Joe]

Originally Posted by Aidan S.

This is very impressive, Great job! How did you guys manage labelling wires?

Good documentation and little changes helps keep labeling unnecessary. Unfortunately we haven't mastered this technique yet

[Aidan S.]

Originally Posted by Iaquinto.Joe

Good documentation and little changes helps keep labeling unnecessary. Unfortunately we haven't mastered this technique yet

I agree that good documentation is key, but even with that labelling is a necessity. It eliminates the risk of a mistake being made if a component has to be swapped. From experience, I can say that having labels at either end of our wires made my life a whole lot easier at competitions when I was on my team's pit crew.

[connor.worley]

Originally Posted by Aidan S.

I agree that good documentation is key, but even with that labelling is a necessity. It eliminates the risk of a mistake being made if a component has to be swapped. From experience, I can say that having labels at either end of our wires made my life a whole lot easier at competitions when I was on my team's pit crew.

Since everything is cut to length and zip-tied down near its relevant component, it's pretty hard to accidentally swap in the wrong cable. We've never had a cable fail.

[theawesome1730]

Originally Posted by connor.worley

We've never had a cable fail.

Doesn't mean they won't. On our practice robot we had a PWM short to 12 volts and it caught fire. It killed a victor, the PWM and the sidecar. Had our PWMs not been labeled a 5 minutes swap could have taken a very long time

Edit:Moral of the story: Label everything! Especially the little cables to festos. When you have 6 festos and 2 breakouts things get real hairy real fast if they aren't labeled

[shawnliner]

Originally Posted by connor.worley

Custom-made. We estimate the lengths with about 1" extra when we're laying out the cables, and then cut to exact length when we terminate them.

How do you terminate the PWM's? Is there a special tool for that?

[connor.worley]

Originally Posted by shawnliner

How do you terminate the PWM's? Is there a special tool for that?

Yep, we use it and love it.

[kstl99]

Awesome job! The neatness of the wiring is great. Not everyone understands the vaue of it but in the real (working) world where someone is paying for a wiring job that is what they want to see. One sugestion: we have started using wire duct, McMaster Carr P/N 75835K74. It takes up some space but it makes wiring and changing soooo much easier. It eliminates the need for custom PWM cables. I would also highly recommend labeling the wires. Our labels are determined by the line number that they start at on our schematic so they can be easily found there. This is helpful also when you have some components far away from the electrical panel.

One question: How are you isolating the C-Rio? We use Lexan but yous seams to be mounted on aluminum.

[Kara_Walker]

Your wiring is awesome! Even when we spent a good week planning our board and wire routing it still wasn't that neat and we ended up with bundled wires. The metal you used for the board looks like a nice alternative to polycarb and having to drill holes.

[kiettyyyy]

Originally Posted by kstl99

One question: How are you isolating the C-Rio? We use Lexan but yous seams to be mounted on aluminum.

We use 1/16" rubber adhesive backed rubber sheet. It's underneath the cRIO.

[kiettyyyy]

Originally Posted by theawesome1730

Doesn't mean they won't. On our practice robot we had a PWM short to 12 volts and it caught fire. It killed a victor, the PWM and the sidecar. Had our PWMs not been labeled a 5 minutes swap could have taken a very long time

Edit:Moral of the story: Label everything! Especially the little cables to festos. When you have 6 festos and 2 breakouts things get real hairy real fast if they aren't labeled

I'm not a huge fan of labeling where it isn't necessary, especially in our application.

As Connor mentioned, cables are neatly ziptied and cut to length.

At the San Diego Regional, we happened to have a metal shaving short out our digital side car, meriting a complete replacement. The digital sidecar was replaced and tested in under 2 minutes. Not many teams can replace a fully loaded DSC in that time even if it were labeled.

It's just personal preference.