Quick question, probably asked a thousand times...

[Sparks333]

Thanks, Al. That's good advice on the drill motor. I can't say I'm unhappy about seeing it leave.

Sparks

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Sparks,
The drill motor as far as I know has not been dropped. We won't know for sure until the kit of parts comes out. I know there has been some discussion but the most recent is on the "rumor mill" board and should not be believed. If someone has some concrete info please let me know.
The drill motor has some flaws but that does not make it a bad motor. It is a pretty good merge of speed, power, size and weight. Coupled with the transmission and drive system designed by FIRST, you can have a driving base within a few hours and then concentrate on other parts of the robot. Although you will see lot's of people complain about parts (sometimes that includes me) all of us are held to the same constraints. That's what makes this so much fun. We all have to overcome the same things and still try and compete. We have used FP, Bosch and/or Chalupas in our drive systems over the last few years. We won nationals with two FP and two drills in our crab steering modules. I expect to see several of the AndyMark multimotor drives using these same motors when I inspect this coming season.

[Sparks333]

Good point, but they are selling the extras. I think they are either replacing it or getting rid of it.
PS: It's chuapa, not chalupa.

Sparks

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Sparks333

Good point, but they are selling the extras. I think they are either replacing it or getting rid of it.
PS: It's chuapa, not chalupa.

Sparks

Sparks,
The selling of the extras may be to just clear out the storage for new inventory. I use "chalupa" because many of us used that name when the motors were first introduced. Kind of an inside joke I know, but after 9 years of late night sessions and all of the other craziness you do get a little punchy. Maybe just a midwest thingy. Besides I can spell "chalupa".

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by Austin

FYI: IF you want some really good, flexible 4 AWG wire [hyperbolization] 100x more flexible than the Kit 6AWG [/hyperbolization]). PartsExpress carries some great stuff...this 4AWG is made up of 1672 strands of 36AWG wire! It's really amazing stuff. They also sell ultra-flexible 8AWG wire made of 675 strands of 36ga. wire. It's great stuff...what we're using this year. Makes wiring a lot easier.

4AWG

8AWG

We've be thinking about using some more flexable wiring solution this year, but one question I have is do you still use the Power Connector that comes in the kit for the batteries? Is there anyone who uses a more flexible or convienent connector for their batteries?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Doug,
I am expecting that FIRST will reguire the 50 Amp Anderson connector again this year. The connectors are donated and we should use this generous resource. In the past we had used a 100 Amp version of the Power Pole without failure.
Please remember that you don't have to use the wire length that come preterminated with connector. Order extras so you can add them to your spare batteries and the battery charger. Clip leads from the charger is likely the highest cause of failure in this connector. The sharp points on the clip leads damage and score the connector faces and produce hot spots that cause eventual failure at high currents.

[Gamer930]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Order extras so you can add them to your spare batteries and the battery charger. Clip leads from the charger is likely the highest cause of failure in this connector. The sharp points on the clip leads damage and score the connector faces and produce hot spots that cause eventual failure at high currents.

We have always used Clip Leads. . . Never had any problem but little worried now. I see your reasoning behind it and will look into switching the connections.
Is there a recommended way from going from #14-16 wire out of the charger to the #6 wire of the connector???

Another subject: Yes, they do check to make sure you use the right wire size in each leg of the circuit. Al Skierkiewicz inspected our robot at the Midwest regional and noticed our wire to be #14 wire instead of #12 wire going all the way up to the top of our towers. We thought we were right according to a rule update but actually we weren't. We ended up spending the 30-40 mins of practice day to change it. FIRST makes the rules so we are SAFE and not going by the manufactures recommended facts. Safety FIRST

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Gamer2028

We have always used Clip Leads. . . Never had any problem but little worried now. I see your reasoning behind it and will look into switching the connections.
Is there a recommended way from going from #14-16 wire out of the charger to the #6 wire of the connector???

Jason,
If you buy the connectors without wires already mated it is pretty easy. If you use connectors from the KOP, using a small screwdriver you can release the contact from the shell. (Look in the contact end and you will see a steel spring holding the tip of the contact. Just move it out of the way and the contact will release out the wire end of the connector.) Cut off the #6 wire at the point it exits the contact. Using a large soldering iron just tin the connector and tack on the #16 from the charger. Be sure to replace the contact in the right side and check the polarity of the wiring before you use it to charge a battery. Or if you find it easier to open the crimp and release the #6 you can do that as well.

[telkanuru]

To the original topic, I believe it comes down to safety factor. Safety factor is a simple calculation- the max voltage/force/whatever an item can withstand theoretically divided by the max it's supposed to take. So a wire capable of carrying 40A on a 20A breaker would have a SF of 2. A SF of 2 is recommended on devices that do not have the possibility of endangering a human life, SF of 3+ otherwise. As for connecting larger wires to smaller, I guess they can't do much about their suppliers...