Sidecar cable length

[AdamHeard]

Is there any limit to the length we can make a cable for the sidecar? Would something around 5 feet start to have reliability issues at all?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Adam,
I would think that any length you can fit on a robot would be OK. However, a little thought into the placement of components can/should get you closer than five feet. Cable type also plays a large part, not all cables are created equal.

[Bryan Herbst]

As far as I know, it would still run relatively stably. However, in the interest of cable management and keeping cables out of the way, I would recommend you plan out your electrical system such that you don't need a 5ft cable.

Out of curiosity, why do you need that kind of length? Are you testing something in such a way that the sidecar is 5ft away from the cRio, or is this a possibility for the actual robot?

[AdamHeard]

Due to the nature of our robot's deisgn, we' are putting 4 Victors in one spot, and 9 in another. We can fit both sidecars near the cRIO, but we're still debating what's cleaner; running 9 PWMs along with some sensors down to the sidecar, or just bring a sidecar up and run the sidecar's signal.

It's not great, it's not pretty, but our robot this year is trying to fit 30 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb bag...

5 feet is a bit of an exaggeration on my part as well, it'd probably be more likely closer to 2.5-3ft, I just wanted to make sure.

[EricVanWyk]

Long runs are less good than short runs, but I don't think those distances are anything to panic about.

If you are using the provided gardenhose cable to connect to the DSC, you are better off with Crio (long cable) DSC (short cables) stuff.

If you are using ribbon cables, it doesn't matter.

The gardenhose is shielded (I think), so it'll be a little better.

[AdamHeard]

you guys will really cringe at this one....

Is the same cable length acceptable for use on an analog module?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Are you asking to extend the analog breakout so as to mount it somewhere besides directly on the Crio module?

[EricVanWyk]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

you guys will really cringe at this one....

Is the same cable length acceptable for use on an analog module?

You will add noise and loose resolution, strictly speaking. How much is up to how well you route the cables.

To get a feel for it, just run the cable (without the breakout or sensors) and drive around while monitoring the channels. How bad is it?