SLU-70 Lugs

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Mike AA

Al, do you think that many teams would have crimpers for the #6 crimps available to them from their sponsor? I would imagine many teams would and thus there wouldn't be quite as many that first would have to get sent out. Also as an alternative to crimping soldering would work and only requires solder and a soldering iron, not an expensive crimper. I have occasionally used the crimper at electrical supply houses, if teams asked the supplier around them they may be able to "lease" the crimper, I had to do this when making some splices with my 2500 watt inverter which I used 8 2/0 crimps and if we would have been allowed to use crimps I would have used it this year also.

-Mike

Mike,
I can't give you all the data that FIRST used to make this decision. Being sensitive to rookies and wanting to keep a level playing field for primary electrical must have certainly been part of the discussion. Whatever the reasons, it was in the rulebook and needed to be followed as closely as only using the supplied motors. I can tell you that in the years that I have inspected (and before that assisting teams with electrical problems), I have seen some of the scariest electrical wiring on robots that potentially would have caused fires. As a matter of fact, two robots that I know of in Atlanta had small fires due to wiring errors. It is imperative that teams know that the battery we use is capable of producing extreme heat under the conditions that some teams use them. A simple loose connection on a battery where the drive train is pulling more than 200 amps is capable of several thousand watts in a 1/4 sq. in. area. (I^2*R=200^2*1ohm=4000watts)
I would prefer to be able to use a connector of my own choosing but we need to keep rookies (like yourself) in play. If I can take a less than desirable part and make it work so can rookies and teams without an electrical mentor. I hope that if we must continue to use this type of connector, the SUA-70 is a more suitable part for #6 wire and certainly either type would be OK. Soldering makes this a reliable connector and heat shrink insulation makes it look nice.

G,
You make the same argument that hundreds of teams made either over the connectors, the use of adhesive tape, the drill motors last year, pneumatic rules or a variety of other systems you are more familiar with. FIRST sets the rules that we all must follow. I would consider it a real world constraint (like gravity) until we can come up with a solution that FIRST will adopt. Andy Baker found a nice little crimper for various size wires and the crimp connectors used by electricians and manufacturing everyday. The tool is about $400 though and asking a team who is already shelling $6K for competition to come up with another $400 doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Many connectors can be crimped effectively with a small vise and finished up with solder but we still have the inexperienced teams to deal with. I received several requests for help from teams who lost there electrical mentors this season and were lost as to what to do. If anyone has a good suggestion you can send them to me and I will pass them on to FIRST.