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#1
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Larger wire for Anderson SB50 connectors
In recent years, I've seen a number of top-performing teams electing to use wire heavier than the FIRST-mandated minimum of 6 gauge on their batteries and main breaker, in order to reduce resistance and squeeze ever so slightly more voltage out of their batteries. However, I haven't been able to find a source on contacts for the legally required SB50 connector beyond 6 gauge. Can anyone point me to a source for this? Or does 4 gauge work with the standard contacts with some effort?
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#2
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Larger wire for Anderson SB50 connectors
If you're careful, 4 awg wire fits in the 6 awg contact.
Last edited by Joe Ross : 01-09-2014 at 11:43. |
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#3
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Re: Larger wire for Anderson SB50 connectors
Anderson doesn't make SB-50 contacts beyond 6 AWG. I believe most of the teams that elect to use larger wire simply remove enough strands at the end to make the wire fit in the 6 AWG contact.
(The SB-120 connector supports 2 and 4 AWG wire. It was banned for last year, but I think FIRST should switch to that size just because its rating matches the rating of the Main Breaker. The SB-50 was acceptable when you could only use ~10 motors. We can use up to 30 now.) |
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#4
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Re: Larger wire for Anderson SB50 connectors
Max et al,
The current ratings on the #6 is determined for wire temperature rise in continuous current. I suggest everyone make the calculation for the resistance of #6 vs. #4 on their own design. You will find that on a typical robot using 4 feet of wire from the battery to the PD input, the difference between #4 and #6 is millivolts at max current. This drop is far less than the drop due to internal resistance of the battery. To help you along, the resistance of #6 is ~0.4 mohm/foot. #4 is ~.3 mohm/ft. Last edited by Al Skierkiewicz : 02-09-2014 at 08:24. |
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