Electrical wiring

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Tertola,
If you have any specific questions after you check the Tips and Guidelines and the robot power distribution drawing both available on the First website then let us know here. You can also PM me if you wish. I will be your inspector in MN and you can ask me anything when I am there as well.


Jees,
I like your suggestions, we solder and heat shrink everything as well. There's a long story behind that but I'll save that for another day. Recommended practice is to wire the controller fans directly to the power input of each controller. It gives you an immediate indication that the controller is receiving power. They do not need to run if the contoller is not powered. Under the electrical rules, this requires an additional breaker to run all the fans from the power block and it leaves that little wire all over your robot. Since the breakers are self resetting, there is no worry if the motor breaker trips.
Even though many teams build and use the backup battery charger, there is no substitute for a fully charged backup using a standard wall powered charger. My recommendation is to save some weight and wear and tear on the main battery and buy a few backup batteries. Didgikey will make up larger capacity packs in record time or you can buy additional packs from IFI.