Anderson PowerPole for CAN bus?

[mhaeberli]

Is it permitted and / or advised to use Anderson PowerPole connectors for the CAN bus?

[JDL]

That's like using a 60 pound jack hammer to put in thumb tacks.

[AllenGregoryIV]

We're doing it this year, we haven't had any problems yet.

[cgmv123]

I'm not sure what the implications of this Q&A are, but it says that R39 (the rule that allows connectors like PowerPoles to be used on BRANCH CIRCUITS) doesn't apply to the CAN bus. I don't know if that means the GDC doesn't think having connectors on a CAN bus is a good idea, or if they think the rules don't prohibit it anyway.

[Monochron]

Just to throw in our 2 cents; we are using small Du Pont connectors for the CAN bus this year, their small size makes them very convenient for connecting/disconnecting. We haven't had issues with reliability with Du Ponts in the past, so as long as that keeps up we should be good.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

M,
There isn't a rule that specifies connectors for the CAN bus but I have to ask "why"? This is a critical part of the robot and should be treated a such. For that reason I highly recommend as few connections as possible. If you are going to use the APP connectors, be sure to use the 15 amp terminals and if your wire is very small gauge, I recommend you strip twice the length needed and fold over the exposed wire before inserting. This will give you a more reliable crimp. Don't forget the need to terminate the bus.

[mhaeberli]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. With the new CAN bus Talons, I'm reluctant to splice the CAN bus connections from Talon to Talon, which is why I asked.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

M,
There isn't a rule that specifies connectors for the CAN bus but I have to ask "why"? This is a critical part of the robot and should be treated a such. For that reason I highly recommend as few connections as possible. If you are going to use the APP connectors, be sure to use the 15 amp terminals and if your wire is very small gauge, I recommend you strip twice the length needed and fold over the exposed wire before inserting. This will give you a more reliable crimp. Don't forget the need to terminate the bus.

What are you going to be using Al? We wanted something fast, easy, reliable, and preferably that we already owned a crimping tool for.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I don not expect to use connectors at all, preferring to run cable directly from device to device. We will continue to use APP for power wiring as in the past. If for some reason we decide to run a powered mechanism and wish to have one connector to terminate power control and sensor wiring I don't envision needing to connectorize CAN this season.

[Peter Johnson]

We're using Hansen Hobbies' 2-pin 0.1" LP (latching polarized) connectors (http://www.hansenhobbies.com/product...nlpconnectors/) for our CAN bus. They use different pin inserts than their other 0.1" connectors, but you can use the same crimper for both. They're a tiny bit longer when mated than a standard PWM but they're much more robust thanks to the latching feature and the polarization keeps you from accidentally swapping CANH and CANL. Basically we put a male and and a female connector on each Talon; makes daisy chaining a cinch.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I don not expect to use connectors at all, preferring to run cable directly from device to device. We will continue to use APP for power wiring as in the past. If for some reason we decide to run a powered mechanism and wish to have one connector to terminate power control and sensor wiring I don't envision needing to connectorize CAN this season.

How would you do this with the Talon SRXs that just have bare wires on the can bus? When connecting Talon to Talon teams are going to need some connector to go between them and to be able to replace them quickly. When going into the PCM, RoboRIO, and PDP we wouldn't need connectors but with the talons I think they are needed.

[otherguy]

During beta testing we decided to crimp the CAN talons with a three pin header with the center pin left empty. We did this on both ssets of CAN cables on the controller.

Reasons for doing it this way:

• we already had the crimpers and connectors for PWM cables.
• female headers prevent exposed contacts that could short to the chassis
• using a 3 pin connector with the center pin empty allows the controllers to be plugged in to the roboRIO maintaining support for PWM capability.
• it makes it easy to daisychain controllers together, just use a 3pin male header (see below)

The pin headers for connecting two female cables: http://www.hansenhobbies.com/product...pt1in_srfma40/

[DonRotolo]

CAN really doesn't like connectors, but the Talons seem to require some sort of solution. Powerpoles are overkill and provide a relatively large impedance 'bump'; I';d recommend 0.100 headers like those used for PWM connections.

Whatever solution you choose, make SURE that CAN Polarity is absolutely correct, or you'll be unhappy with robot performance.

[dellagd]

We're planning on using some crimp connectors to just crimp the wires together once we have all of the Talons mounted. Minimizes the probability of failure and we're not too concerned with having to cut the wires when were done, saying as we'll only be doing it a few times a year in a worst case scenario.

[mbshark]

I would like to know if the 15 Amp APP could be legal.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

M,
If you are going to use the APP connectors, be sure to use the 15 amp terminals and if your wire is very small gauge, I recommend you strip twice the length needed and fold over the exposed wire before inserting.

We are currently trying to decide between APP 15 amp connectors and the pwm connectors for the CAN connections on the Talon SRX's. I am wondering if the APP 15 amp connectors would be frc legal as the maximum gauge wire is 20 AWG and the Talon SRX's CAN wires are 22 AWG. I would hate to have the team rewire the whole thing during a competition because of a research mistake.

Thanks for any help