Mounting 2009 Controller and Components

[Russ Beavis]

Addendum to Eric's comments -

The PTC in the ground return path for the cRIO's power supply will limit any chassis shorts that are conducted through the cRIO to an amp or 2. Definitely annoying and match-ending but safe.

There is no equivalent protection for shorts to the camera's chassis. I'm not at liberty to speak for the GDC but I'd be very surprised if using a conductive mouting for the camera will be allowed.

The above issues bring up a very important inspection task - WHEN you test for chassis shorts before shipping your robot (wink wink nudge nudge), you WILL detect a chassis short if your cRIO is attached to a conductive surface and bypasses any non-conductive coatings. You WILL detect a chassis short if you conductively-mount your camera. PLEASE fix the camera mounting issue before shipping your robot. Depending on the robot rules, if conductive mounting of the cRIO is allowed, you'll need to disconnect the power cable to cRIO when testing for shorted chassis.

Russ

[EricVanWyk]

Originally Posted by Russ Beavis

The above issues bring up a very important inspection task - WHEN you test for chassis shorts before shipping your robot (wink wink nudge nudge), you WILL detect a chassis short if your cRIO is attached to a conductive surface and bypasses any non-conductive coatings. You WILL detect a chassis short if you conductively-mount your camera. PLEASE fix the camera mounting issue before shipping your robot. Depending on the robot rules, if conductive mounting of the cRIO is allowed, you'll need to disconnect the power cable to cRIO when testing for shorted chassis.

Conductive mounting of the cRIO is not allowed for any teams I mentor.