jumper cabling from sensors to controller

[Gary Dillard]

This is a follow-on to my thread about 3-pin pwm connectors; I looked through the threads on wiring recommendations and didn't see anything that specifically addressed this....

I am tasked this year with improving the integration of our controls system from a physical hardware standpoint. One of the things that seems to hold us up is cable routing, especially to the sensors. Last year we did a great job cleaning up the power cable routing (love the new relay board), but running small wiring to all the sensors is always the last thing we do. It seems like it can't really be done until the robot is mostly assembled and we always do it in place.

One of the ideas I have is to take all of our sensors (limit switches, shaft encoders, pots, etc.) and terminate them to 3 pin female connectors using just a few inches of wire length, which we could do starting week 1 and mount them with the component. Then we would make a cable for each of the sensors, male to female, extra long (or just use pwm extension cables) so we can test out all the sensors. The final task would be to cut them to length, put a new connector on the cut end and secure them along the routing.

Am I headed in the right direction? Is there any problem having an extra connector(s) in every line? Is there any benefit to adding short cables from each input on the controller side to some location with another connector so I can hard mount /strain relieve that termination point as well?

Or any other suggestions?