Wires Pull Themselves Out

[coastertux]

We have our camera working, but we have the problem of the PWM cables (specifically the TTL one) pulling themselves out. Any suggestions on wiring that might prevent this? Thanks!

[KenWittlief]

find a place to tie-wrap the wire to something right next to the camera. The connectors are not designed to hold the weight of the cable.

those little tiewrap foam tape stick on square anchor things work great

[Chris_Elston]

Originally Posted by coastertux

We have our camera working, but we have the problem of the PWM cables (specifically the TTL one) pulling themselves out. Any suggestions on wiring that might prevent this? Thanks!

Hot glue gun is what we use. We hot glue EVERYTHING. PWM cables on robot controller, Victors, relays, digital I/O, analog, CMUCAMERA.....everything...

And you can remove it pretty easy afterwards if you need to.



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[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by chakorules

Hot glue gun is what we use. We hot glue EVERYTHING. PWM cables on robot controller, Victors, relays, digital I/O, analog, CMUCAMERA.....everything...

I have a hot melt glue gun and I'm not afraid to use it. But. Would you like to share exactly how you apply it?

[Idaman323]

Im not sure exactly ho but I would guess, you would plug the PWM in. Then apply it in the crack of the victor and the pwm. Around the outside edge.

[X-Istence]

On the side of the mount there are holes, I removed the plastic casing from around the wires, pushed it through, and stuck them back in the plastic casing. Then I placed it on the board. This means they get less movement at where they are attached at the board, thus meaning they don't fall out. Then to the computer, I have it attached along the way with a tie-wrap from where the camera is positioned, so it should not fall out, if it does we have a serious problem.

Since mine is tilt only these days, I don't really have to worry about the pan causing tension, as the tilt amount is not enough to get it the cable to accidently fall out.

Hot gluing anything is not what I would suggest, but if it works for you, good luck with it.

[Eldarion]

Hot glue is actually an industry standard solution (as explained to me by an electrical engineer; it has excellent insulating properties).
If you take apart a radio, TV, etc. sometimes you will find hot glue holding vibration-sensitive parts onto the board.

[KenWittlief]

I dont know if its PC or even GP to come out and say this on a public forum,

but.... a robot that likes to pull out its own wires? We frown on that around here!

Your robot needs professional help! :^)

[X-Istence]

Originally Posted by Eldarion

Hot glue is actually an industry standard solution (as explained to me by an electrical engineer; it has excellent insulating properties).
If you take apart a radio, TV, etc. sometimes you will find hot glue holding vibration-sensitive parts onto the board.

When I over the course of one summer worked at Philips the Dutch company, we were told not to use hot glue, as it can accidently melt wires, instead we were using some extremely strong tape.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by X-Istence

When I over the course of one summer worked at Philips the Dutch company, we were told not to use hot glue, as it can accidently melt wires, instead we were using some extremely strong tape.

It is possible, if the gun nozzle were to touch the wire directly but the glue itself shouldn't be hot enough to sheathing. At most you can only get a light burn from hot glue and it cools almost instantly. The only thing that is a negative here is that if you need to move electronics or replacing wires, and you often do, you might find that your wires are glued to your robot (who would have thought) While your at it secure down all the PWMs any one of them get pulled, and PWMs have a bad habit of this, and you might lose function of a vital piece of your robot. Zip ties work great and if you don't have a place to mount them the sticky pads are perfect.

[coastertux]

Originally Posted by X-Istence

When I over the course of one summer worked at Philips the Dutch company, we were told not to use hot glue, as it can accidently melt wires, instead we were using some extremely strong tape.

The only problem is that tape is illegal in FIRST unless it is used as an insulator.

[Andrew Blair]

Originally Posted by X-Istence

When I over the course of one summer worked at Philips the Dutch company, we were told not to use hot glue, as it can accidently melt wires, instead we were using some extremely strong tape.

Hmmm. There are low temp melt hot glues; I wonder if that's what they were referring to? MechanicalBrain is right in that is is rather hard, without touching the tip, to get a bad burn from hot glue. We havn't done it in a few years, but it seemed to work very well when we did.

[Daru]

Yeah, say that hot glue doesn't burn to the scar on my left hand that I've had since fifth grade.

[devicenull]

One of our mentors gets this orange anti-tamper stuff from his job.. We've used that for most of our robots, and never had a problem with it.

[eugenebrooks]

Originally Posted by coastertux

We have our camera working, but we have the problem of the PWM cables (specifically the TTL one) pulling themselves out. Any suggestions on wiring that might prevent this? Thanks!

These connectors were enough of a disaster that I did not trust them.
We cut the plastic casing off and carefully soldered the wires onto
the formerly encased connectors, then insulated them. On the power
wiring we actually pulled the connector pins, but had so much trouble
getting the solder out of the plated through holes we did not try that
again. Once the solder was out of the plated through holes, however,
you get a really good soldering job for the cabling directly to the board.

Eugene