Victor-PWM Cable connections

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by RbtGal1351

I am wondering what fixes teams have come up with to ensure a good connection between the Victor Speed Controllers and its PWM Cable.

How about the other end: We had some issues with the PWM cables popping out of the RC. The way we mounted the RC it was difficult to see, leading to some puzzling moments...

Does anyone have a good way of keeing the cables on to the RC, aside from hot melt glue (which, in my experience, eventually comes loose)?

Don

[Billfred]

I haven't tested this, and as such I'm not making any warranties, but what about a thin bar that goes through all of the PWM cables just above the connector and keeps the RC connection from being pulled up accidentally? (I'm imagining something like the gates to the FRC field, except the other end would unlatch as well.)

[lukevanoort]

I never had this problem this year, although I was told by the guy who wired last year's 'bot that he had this problem and I should be careful. So, I looked at the board differences, and the only major difference I can see is this year's has less distance to the controllers from the RC and there is zero stress. The whole setup is also mounted at a 90 degree angle to the floor as opposed to flat as in last year's I don't know if that helped it or not...

[Josh Hambright]

An old fix that i can remember using on the old victor with the old style of PWM connector was to put a small dab of hot glue on the connector, this can also be done on the other end where they all connect to the RC. Using hot glue makes them stay in place but you can peel it off if you need to remove the connections.

[RKElectricalman]

Originally Posted by Josh Hambright

An old fix that i can remember using on the old victor with the old style of PWM connector was to put a small dab of hot glue on the connector, this can also be done on the other end where they all connect to the RC. Using hot glue makes them stay in place but you can peel it off if you need to remove the connections.

That or silicone.. that's what we use.. it's great

[RbtGal1351]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

Does anyone have a good way of keeing the cables on to the RC, aside from hot melt glue (which, in my experience, eventually comes loose)?

We electrical taped our PWMs to the RC, and our RC was at a 45 degree angle facing down, and had no problems.
(But I can't guarantee that this will work, seeing as our Victor PWMs were electrical taped and they were mounted right side up... )

Originally Posted by KTorak

Correct link
.

How does this help?

Thanks
~Stephanie

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by RbtGal1351

How does this help?

I think he means this. About 2/3s of the way down, they clip on and hold the PWM.

[KTorak]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

I think he means this. About 2/3s of the way down, they clip on and hold the PWM.

Sorry about that. I know I navigated to the right page with the item...but it must not have copied it.

[Gary Bonner]

We had some cables/Victors that would not consistently make contact even though the cables were seated all the way down. We very slightly bent the middle pin so that the three pins were not exactly in a straight line. This seemed to take care of the problem.

[ECarlson]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

I think he means this. About 2/3s of the way down, they clip on and hold the PWM.

Those look like a good idea, unless the metal cuts into the cable, or shorts out something else, but you should be able to avoid those problems.

One thing we did on the RC side, at least for our sensor connectors, was use one large connector block to hold all the wires, so it's easier to hold in place.

BTW: Here is the image from the robotcombat web site of the Victor PWM Clips:

[Donut]

This is a year old thread, but the problem for us is arising this year.

We have had extremely bad unseating issues with some of our spike relays on this year's robot. Sometimes there's no connection, sometimes there's only a connection for forward or reverse, and sometimes they work fine. Do any teams have methods of attaching PWM cables to spikes better, or know of any "alligator clips" that will work with Spike Relays?

[eugenebrooks]

It is indeed the case that we are having a lot of problems with intermittent connections on the victors, and presumably the spikes as well (our team is not using them this year). A new cable does not work, you take it out and inspect the crimps and it is perfect, you plug it back in and it may work, or it may not. Get another cable, it works, and then if the cable is moved or replugged, you find it does not work.

We are finding that the fit of the metal pins on the cable into the corresponding socket on the victor or spike is loose when this problem happens. In addition to all the recommendations above with regard to proper tie down of the cable to prevent movement, you can spread the metal pin a little in order to cause the socket to get a better grip and produce a little insertion force.

If you look at the metal pins, they are made of stamped metal and have the shape of a U. If you can find a suitable tool (a wire cutter that has a flat side on one of its yaws works, or a small end nipper with one jaw ground flat will work), you can spread the U just a few thousandths and as a result you will note that the socket will increase the previously non-existant insertion force. At this point the connection should not be intermittent. It is important that you don't overdo this, just a spread of a few thousandths will produce a little insertion force and then the gold plated contacts will do their job for you. You can measure the spread with a dial indicator to make sure that you are not overdoing it, you don't want the spread pin to force the socket contacts past their spring limits.

It would be nice if IFI would use "high insertion force" sockets when victors and spikes are made, or carefully screen the components that they use for this critical, and very problematic, connection. The high insertion force sockets and pins I buy from Mouser have a good grip for a single pin, so it would seem that a good grip could be obtained with the socket in the victors and spikes by using high insertion force parts.

With a little insertion force on the socket, you will find that the connection will have less tendency to walk out and become unplugged.

Have fun,
Eugene

Originally Posted by Donut

This is a year old thread, but the problem for us is arising this year.

We have had extremely bad unseating issues with some of our spike relays on this year's robot. Sometimes there's no connection, sometimes there's only a connection for forward or reverse, and sometimes they work fine. Do any teams have methods of attaching PWM cables to spikes better, or know of any "alligator clips" that will work with Spike Relays?