1000 assist points and we could have done more

[themccannman]

Originally Posted by RufflesRidge

I don't believe Chris is referring to the red button physically being pressed. The only protection from that is the location of the breaker.

Some breakers either have or develop a sensitivity to vibration/impacts. To identify if this is the case, turn on the robot and begin tapping on the breaker housing particularly around the actuation lever including gently tapping the red button. If you are able to cause the lights on the robot to flicker you may have a sensitive breaker. Everybody's definition of lightly is a little different, especially if you've never seen this problem before, so you may want to ask a team around you if you can try it on their 'bot as a reference.

I know, I was asking about ways to prevent the breaker from disconnecting from being shaken/vibrated. Preventing the red off switch from being hit is a simple repositioning of the breaker.

[DampRobot]

I've always wondered about the legality of some physical means of keeping the breaker closed or resetting it in case of a main breaker trip.

By the way, I'm beginning to think the main breaker should be bumped up in rating from 120 to 150 or 180 amps. While I'm not the electrical expert that some on this forum are, I have a hard time seeing what could get damaged (that's not already protected by a breaker on the PDB or somewhere else) at 180 amps but not at 120 amps. Especially if the era of 6 CIM drives is to continue, teams should be able to compete without the specter of a main breaker reset hanging over their heads.

[Answer42]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

I've always wondered about the legality of some physical means of keeping the breaker closed or resetting it in case of a main breaker trip.

By the way, I'm beginning to think the main breaker should be bumped up in rating from 120 to 150 or 180 amps. While I'm not the electrical expert that some on this forum are, I have a hard time seeing what could get damaged (that's not already protected by a breaker on the PDB or somewhere else) at 180 amps but not at 120 amps. Especially if the era of 6 CIM drives is to continue, teams should be able to compete without the specter of a main breaker reset hanging over their heads.

This is the same thought I had after watching the last finals match. At least two teams on the field were running 6 cim drivetrains because they've become the new high performance standard in FRC. I don't see how First can give us this many cims, and mini-cims, and banebots motors, and anymark motors, and then not expect us to start putting 6 cims on the drivetrain.

33 posted this thread http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=125187 a while back that talks about this with far more knowledge than I posses on the subject. But the bottom line is that all the current on an FRC robot goes through a 50 amp connector and a 120 amp main breaker. Either we need to have less amperage available to us, or upgrade to a higher amperage standard on both these components. As it is we're seeing far too many main breaker trips in situations where the cims and the wires attached to them are in no real danger.