And thus the case is complete. It’s going to be mounted on a wheelchair robot till FIRST season swings around.
What do you guys think?
Wow, that’s… beautiful. Sleek and beautiful. I am impressed.
Thanks. It took quite a bit of time over the summer, but we think it’ll pay off come build season.
I used the driver’s station case offered by AndyMark (http://www.andymark.com/Driver-Station-Case-p/am-2111.htm). The case had the perfect dimensions, small enough to be reasonable, while big enough to fit everything plus the eight victors.
That is pretty nice looking. Any problems with the Victors heating up inside the case?
Also are you just planning to use it for testing or are you going to build one to mount to the actual robot?
No problems with heat at all. We’re planning on taking thermal readings to give a value to the statement.
Granted the game allows, we’re hoping to mount this case within our robot.
Dom,
I hate to rain on anyone’s parade but the indicators and labels on all electronics need to be visible from the outside of the robot. This is true of the Crio, PD, sidecar(s) and speed controllers.
[R41]The PD Board and all circuit breakers must be easily visible for Inspection.
[R56]The DAP-1522 wireless bridge must be mounted on the Robot such that the diagnostic lights are visible to Arena
personnel.
[R57]Robots shall use the diagnostic Robot Signal Light (RSL) provided in the KOP. It must be mounted on the Robot such that it is easily visible while standing three feet in front of the Robot.
During inspection, wiring must also be visible to the inspector.
And I am assuming this is a prototype with the real box to be constructed after kickoff.
Al - We thought of this while designing the case. If you look in a few of the pictures, you might be able to see two anderson powerpoles coming out of the top of the case - this is intended to link the RSL to the sidecar. You might also notice that in the head on view of the case, there is an odd “window” cut out of the lid just above the handle of the case. The dlink is mounted directly behind this hole, and while running, the lights are highly visible. As for the ease of access to wiring during inspection, we’ll have to account for this during the design of the robot. Given the fact that anything might go wrong with any component of the control system, making the internals readily accessible is probably a good idea anyway. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.
Dom
You guys are totally ahead of the curve for this years water game! 
Seriously, this is pretty sweet. Removable control systems allow for very fast prototyping & rebuilding without worrying about whether shavings get into the electronics.
If, for some reason, the wireless router isn’t “visible enough” for an inspector, you could perhaps make the window larger, then mount the bridge onto the window. If the inspector doesn’t like it (TBH I think it will be difficult to see on the field due to glare) then you could simply flip the window over and remount the bridge. Same location/packaging, but with the bridge on the outside.
Dom,
Glad to help, please ask if you have any questions. When I refer to the wiring, inspectors need to check not only the wiring going out to the motors, they also need to check everything leaving the PD. If your design allows for the lid to be easily opened on the field while inside the robot, you might pass inspection. However, I would be hard pressed to say you meet all the specifications for visible indicators. The risk teams will run into is this. If field personnel can help with a simple problem on the field they will go out of their way to insure you play. If you make it difficult to do that, you will possibly be disabled for that match. On another note, I believe the spec for Victors is 2" clear above the fans. You can of course easily make a cutout in the case above the Vic and add screen to protect them. There are a variety of filter materials that can be velcroed in place over the screen. A simple furnace filter could provide the air flow while keeping metallic debris from entering the box.
With the added window, the wireless bridge lights seem to be as visible to service personnel as most other robots.
Does inspection need to be “on field” configuration?
Wouldn’t it be perfectly acceptable for them to open up the box and show inspectors what’s inside? I don’t believe the rules say “must be visible for inspection without any opening of service panels.”
If that isn’t okay, then any team with opaque side panels which they remove for inspection is also illegal?
This is a very cool solution. Kudos to team 23 for the development of such a neat item. I hope it isn’t ruled illegal due to Deus Ex Inspection.
-John
As the distinguished folks from team 23 probably know, Victors have been used in Battlebots for years under much much much worse circumstances than FRC.
In some cases they get so hot that the FETs desolder themselves from the PCB, and they keep running right up until the FETs fall off.
The heat inside that little box won’t make the Victor’s sweat one bit.
-John
On the field, problems that are trivial to diagnose because of all the visible status lights become impossible when they are hidden.
There is no status light that is unimportant.
I urge any competition control system layout to leave ALL status lights fully visible to the field crew AND to the team members.
A transparent top would be nice.
I have to agree with Mark. Even if it does pass inspection, you’d be at a disadvantage if an FTA can’t see your lights while you are on the field. Reducing the time it takes them to diagnose an issue increases the amount of time you get to play.
John,
Inspectors are responsible for holding teams to the rules and those are listed in the inspection checklist. What takes place on the field for FTAs, CSAs and inspectors when called, is to keep matches moving and help everyone play. If a problem cannot be determined on the field, it may mean a robot doesn’t play. I don’t want that and neither does anyone else. Often the indicators on a robot point us to a simple and quick fix. I wish I had a nickel for every DSC or Crio that had a power lead come loose that was able to be diagnosed and fixed in minutes on the field.
As to the durability of the Victors, you know I am a staunch user and believe in their reliability. However, I don’t want to stress them to the point that the FETs drop off the board. I was quoting the IFI mounting guidelines of 2" inches.
Looks cool and probably works great as well! The lights are definitely far more visible than on our control system 
(picture related, they’re under there somewhere). Just don’t try to bring it on a plane! haha
the picture
[spoiler]http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g329/Sharkbait24/electrical.jpg[/spoiler]
Don’t think I don’t remember you…:ahh:
I have a picture of that side of your robot that I show to people…
![http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g329/Sharkbait24/electrical.jpg[/spoiler]](http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g329/Sharkbait24/electrical.jpg%5B/spoiler%5D){kind=link}
http://vcclite.com/led-light-pipes/flexible-light-pipes/
Run a fiber optic light pipe from each status LED to the outside of the case, properly labeling each one. I have no idea if that will work or is legal and I don’t really care to check or ask. Would be pretty cool though.
C’mon inspectors - don’t be meanies. 
Al - I do appreciate your points and helping me rethink everything so there’s not a mad dash to make our bot legal come inspection.
Last year, we mounted our router on the rear corner of our robot, and it just so happened that the status lights were facing a 1" wood strip, with about 1/4" distance between the router status lights and the wood. I’ve angled the router upward in a way to allow for maximum visibility, and the hole is considerably larger than the status lights. I can’t capture this in image, but I would imagine you would agree. Every individual light is 100% visible and unobstructed.
As for the wire inspection, I’m aware that inspectors need to visually inspect all of the wiring. We’re going to design the placement of the case so that we can simply open the cover to work on components or go through inspection. All the wires and sources are visible and easily traceable.
Jon - We certainly know the vics can pull their own weight! I’ve made sure that I maximized the height between the bottom vic and the top vic as much as I could. At most, there’s 1/2", and it seems to be working just fine, no heat issues whatsoever.
Travis - I thought about this and bounced the idea off of a teammate. In the end I decided against running fibre optics because my teammate and I agreed that it would be hit or miss during inspection. I believe the way I’ve mounted the router is sufficient for inspection as well as play. If we ever run into a problem with the visibility of the status lights - which we doubt - it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle to remount the router onto the top of the case.
Again, I appreciate everyone’s constructive criticism. It’s going to help!
Dom
I’ve left the case at our school till Friday. When I pick it back up then, I’ll take more detailed and relevant pictures, specifically one detailing the router mounting situation and the wiring. The pictures I’ve got up are pretty lousy.
“And this is how NOT to cover an electronics panel.”