My teams electrical setup for 08...

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I normally caution teams on this type of electrical tray design. It is very difficult to troubleshoot and replace defective components.

Interesting that you mention this, and I agree...of all the design considerations on the electrical component layout, serviceability should be way up at the top. Unfortunately this means it usually ends up taking up a lot of area, and requires also designing the rest of the robot around access to the electronics panel. On the plus side, if you design the robot to be modular, then you can quickly remove whatever might be in the way of the panel, and this modularity can help in other ways. The 1726 robot for 2007 has a quickly removable mast/arm assembly, with a 25 pin connector for all the arm sensor wires, so there is no need to mess with the individual PWM cables when working on it.

It might be helpful to lay out the Spikes and Victors flat, in rows, with the terminals facing the sides, rather than facing each other. Or perhaps the Victors and power distribution components could be on a bottom panel, and have a top hinged panel for the components that use "small" wires, that can be quickly swung out of the way.

In any case, now is the time to be thinking about it and learning how to make the drawings in Inventor, so kudos to 1527!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by squirrel

Unfortunately this means it usually ends up taking up a lot of area, and requires also designing the rest of the robot around access to the electronics panel.

Jim,
There are alternate ways of laying out electrical. We rarely put all of our electrical components in the same area. The power wiring between battery, Victors and motors become shorter when they are placed in such a way in the robot that wiring is more or less straight lines. Think of a star burst with the battery and power distro in the center of the robot (for weight and balance) and then radiating out from there the Victors and motors. In many cases, the motor wires can be attached directly to the speed controllers, eliminating yet another set of connectors and therefore another point of failure. This approach also makes troubleshooting much easier. We also do not use hardware for mounting the speed controllers. Tywraps work great when using a punched aluminum panel for mounting everything.