Wiring the Breaker Panel

[Steven Carmain]

OK, so we are wiring up our robot right now, and we ran into a question. Should you wire the breaker panel down in numercial value, or should you load balance them? The reason we ask is the left has only one 30 amp circut , and the right side has the controller, compressor, and 5 spikes topower, about equaling each other out. Any suggestions???

P.S. The rules never mention anything about this, but the guidelines recomend numbering down on every number.

[zainali]

Accodring to the manual for the circuit breaker panel it is said for optimal power you should have the electrical components and their respective breakers be connected from the lowest number possible and then to the next higher number. So you should go from one to two and so on. i don't know how much it affects the power flow if you don't do this but I think it is better to just follow what the manual says.

[Der Sichelmann]

on the panel, it says to wire from the low numbers to the high ones and put the 30 amp breakers first. it should work fine with these guidelines.

[ConKbot of Doom]

I would think that the reason for going from lowest to highest is for the sensing the tripped breakers. When the panel sees a bunch of un-used slots after a certain one, it knows that they are unused, not tripped.
So if you want the light, and the other data stuff to work right, I would think that you would have to go from lowest to highest like they said.

[Joe Ross]

I would guess that the guidelines are to minimize the resistance of the paths inside the breaker panel. Keeping that in mind, I would think your proposed arrangment should be just fine.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Steven Carmain

OK, so we are wiring up our robot right now, and we ran into a question. Should you wire the breaker panel down in numercial value, or should you load balance them? The reason we ask is the left has only one 30 amp circut for the Van Door motor, and the right side has the controller, compressor, and 5 valves topower, about equaling each other out. Any suggestions???

P.S. The rules never mention anything about this, but the guidelines recomend numbering down on every number.

Steve,
By following the advice of others and the Breaker Panel Guide you are balancing the loads. A close look at the panel will show that breaker positions 1 and 2 are closest to the input terminal physically and electrically. My recommendation is that the RC be powered from either 1 or 2, minimizing the loss of high current loads on the voltage available to the RC. At this time we are alternating circuit breaker positions to give some distance between circuit breakers for cooling. (i.e. 1,2,5,6, etc.) Use the same convention on the battery returns to keep your wiring straight forward.

[Sscamatt]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Steve,
A close look at the panel will show that breaker positions 1 and 2 are closest to the input terminal physically and electrically. My recommendation is that the RC be powered from either 1 or 2, minimizing the loss of high current loads on the voltage available to the RC.

Wouldn't wiring method go against their recommendation of wiring 30amp circuits first, then 20amp circuits?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Sscamatt

Wouldn't wiring method go against their recommendation of wiring 30amp circuits first, then 20amp circuits?

I consider the RC to be the brains and heart of the robot, so it gets first feed on the electrical. High current loads cause a voltage drop (albeit a small one) across any resistance so by placing the RC first prevents the RC from receiving less than battery voltage. Just my preference.

[DarkJedi613]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I consider the RC to be the brains and heart of the robot, so it gets first feed on the electrical. High current loads cause a voltage drop (albeit a small one) across any resistance so by placing the RC first prevents the RC from receiving less than battery voltage. Just my preference.

Yeah but we have the backup battery now which makes sure the RC always has the correct voltage, so you shouldn't need to worry about that and should just follow FIRST guidlines, I think.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by DarkJedi613

Yeah but we have the backup battery now which makes sure the RC always has the correct voltage, so you shouldn't need to worry about that and should just follow FIRST guidlines, I think.

I think if you ask around you will find many teams who drained the backup during matches last year and with the backup feeding camera power as well this year... I like making my own luck when I can.