For the last two years our team has been doing a modular electronics box that is easily removable, which has been extremely useful for us. We’ve been using 2 or 3 AMP connectors (similar to the ones shown here: http://www.newark.com/catalog_129/index.html?page=931) with a dozen or so sets of wires each.
These have worked out really great when they work, and makes it really easy to remove the electronics and insert new things when necessary. However, they have a number of drawbacks:
a) Requires a special tool to insert/remove/crimp them
b) If not done correctly, they can be unreliable
c) Running a ton of wires to a single connector, makes it really annoying to add new wires to it as it fills up
What kinds of solutions have your teams used in the past (or currently) for this sort of thing. We anticipate lots of sensors and motors, so something that is easily scalable would be ideal.*
Pretty much no matter what connectors you choose you will run into those 3 same problems. So I’d continue to use what you have in the past assuming you are happy with their performance in the past, which it sounds like you are and you’ve obtained the proper tools to crimp and remove them.
Dustin,
While that AMP connector line is pretty nice, you can’t find contacts in the connectors you show that are rated for the currents you encounter on motors on an FRC robot. I believe the series 3 contacts are the only ones that come close. While using your design is not illegal, I would suggest that the addition of another set of contacts, adds another possible fault and higher series resistance to your motor connections in addition to the added complexity of construction and cost.
Thanks for the input. The complexity of construction is really the problem that concerns me, it seems like we always have one or two things that either get mixed up or aren’t connected reliably and cause problems.
For drive motors and motors that actually do something, we were using the larger contacts in the series 4 connectors, which are rated at 35A – so it’s better, but not quite able to handle the max current as you pointed out.
Dustin,
The problem with some of these connectors is that at higher currents, the contact gets hot. As that happens (depending on the body material) the contacts can melt and touch internally. With a visual inspection they may not look bad, but a closer look with a brilliant light and a magnifier will usually point out a failure. For the series 1 & 2 connectors, I try to keep them in the under 5 amp range when I do use them. I like AMP and frequently use them in audio apps where we are terminating 30 to 60 pairs (plus shields) in a single connector. For those applications, we use machined, gold plated pins. Over the years I have become very adept at pin removal and crimping. I have the parts for a project sitting on my bench right now. 30 mics terminated in a single connector body for a studio box.