SLU-70 Lugs

[gburlison]

Originally Posted by de_

(Just in case anyone's interested) In my experience, copper screw lugs used with large soft twisted copper wiring are very susceptible to loosening over time and or wire strands breaking, especially in high vibration & constant flexing due to repeated install/remove cycles our robots operate in. Consequently the team has to REGULARLY inspect/re-tighten them (in turn requiring the repeated removal / replacement of the insulation). Safety, reliability and simplicity is everything for “average” teams, and in my experience, a properly sized round crimp lug SOLDERED to the wire then heat shrinked requires no maintenance, has the highest strain strength, has the lowest electrical resistance (and hence lowest heating, highest peak load), has a virtually infinite life, is easier to completely insulate or better still heat shrink (including the battery post) and is materially cheaper. The soldering knowledge is easily transferred from a mentor to the student with one demonstration or a few web pictures. Personally I think these should be allowed in future competitions.

DE

I completely agree with everything that you have written. In the prevous 4 years of competition, we have crimped and/or soldered properly sized lugs and have had no problems. This is the only year that we have had wires pull out of a lug connected to our battery (SLU-70 lug that was only screwed down). If these lugs are required next year we will definately look into soldering them on. I still have not seen a satisfactory explaination as to why they were required this year.