Hey everyone, I realized that with all the different things REV has been doing this past year, we didn’t make a collective tread for all of it. Since it is early in the year, hopefully I will get to post lots of cool new stuff in here over this year.
Other things we launched recently that are worth checking out are
Mini Power Module - a nice small accessory for your electronics that allows for fused custom circuits and matches the tool-less connectors of the rest of our new control system
SPARK MAX mounting bracket - we got the message that teams like to use screws to hold down motor controllers. Everyone got these in the KOP this year, and they provide a nice way to mount your motor controllers with holes that support # 10 hardware on a 1/2in pitch spacing.
MAXPlanetary - This was our huge mechanical launch this year talked about quite a bit in this thread. This is a modular planetary gearbox where all the parts stay together, has a socketed 1/2 hex bore so you can use a shaft of any length, and this gearbox is designed to handle all the abuse of FRC robots with CIM, NEO, and Falcon power rated motors.
Are there more products that will be released in the coming weeks, or will most of the 2022 releases be more post-season? All the new stuff looks great!
There are still a few small things coming (like 1/2 rounded hex shaft that is tap-able for 10-32) but most of our stuff after what has already been announced will be focused on things after this FRC build season. Depending on how the supply chain works out over the next year, will impact when we announce and release new things.
Not right now, but there are lots of good vendors in VEX, Thriftybot and Swyft who already sell these bearings and they are compatible with the Hex bearings AndyMark sells.
We are excited to announce that REV is now stocking the WAGO 221 Inline Splicing Connector - 12 AWG, just in time for that final push to get the robot wired and ready for competition!
These connectors are robust and super easy to use; just lift the lever, insert your stripped wire, and push the lever back down. No more crimping, no more loose connections, they just work.
Good luck in these final days of build-season; we can’t wait to see what you bring to the field!
We are purchasing these as part of our take-to-competition kit for this year, and next year we will likely use these or the doubles or triples for our comp bot wiring. A lot less expensive than Andersons.
Awesome to see inline Wago 221 connectors now available. We switched to wiring our robots with 221 connectors for the 2020 season and love using them. Made the switch after too many problems with Andersons where the terminal wasn’t properly seated in the housing* and backed out causing loss of motors in matches. All the wires coming out one side makes the wire management a little ugly though.
A question on power rating for these - I see that they are rated for 32A with the IEC approval. We intentionally use the larger Wago 221-612 connectors for motors since they carry a 41A rating. With the pictured example of wiring a NEO using the inline connectors would the motor need to be limited to having power supplied by a 30A breaker? While I realize the IEC and UL ratings for Wago 221 connectors are not specifically for robot usage they are the only ratings I see to use, and R623 requires using appropriately rated connectors:
R623
*Use only appropriate connectors. Branch circuits may include intermediate elements such as COTS connectors, splices, COTS flexible/rolling/sliding contacts, and COTS slip rings, as long as the entire electrical pathway is via appropriately gauged/rated elements.
AndyMark also only sells the lower rated 221-412 connectors but the current rating is called out right in the product specifications, which I don’t see on the REV product page for these inline connectors.
*This won’t happen if wires are properly stripped to length and crimped for Anderson connectors. For our team where students often had to do wiring without electrical mentors available and it was inconsistent which students were available to do said wiring it was difficult to maintain adequate quality control on Anderson connections. Wago 221s are much more forgiving of novice users.
The IEC and UL standards incorporate a generous safety margin that you tend to see required for industrial and residential applications. One IEC test, for example, is a “Short-time withstand current” test, that requires the connector to withstand three 1s applications of 120A/mm^2 of the rated cross-section, without showing any signs of cracking, breakage, or other critical damage. In the case of the 221, this is 480A.
We have tested these connectors above and beyond what is expected in robot applications and we are finishing up a video that compares the 221 with the Anderson PP45. Even though we hope to publish it early this week - spoiler alert - the 221 performs better than the PP45, in terms of voltage drop and withstanding overload currents of 80A for 30 min. The PP45s end up failing before the end of the test.
To be clear, I have personally been a die hard PP45 user since I started using them in 2007. When crimped and assembled properly, they are a great connector that offer easy modularity. The failures we’ve seen in testing are under conditions that are way outside of what will happen on an FRC robot.
Many commonly used connectors on FRC robots are rated for use with specific wire gauges, and only have strict ratings for voltages and temperatures. For example, these 3M 12-10 AWG quick connect crimp terminals have a max current rating of “Same as Wire”.
When we were looking at the 221-2401, we took a similar approach and backed it up with our testing. These connectors are rated for 12 AWG conductors and will operate safely and reliably on 40A 12 AWG robot circuits.
We will review our product page and see if we can better specify our recommendations.
We’ll be looking forward to it. We’re also happy PowerPole users, but we’d definitely be players on this arrangement…if we were confident that we could overcome That Inspector. (Which is not a shot at inspectors, just saying we’ve had inspectors pay attention to really tiny things on our robot and we want to be prepared for that.)
@Donut I am also curious about this. I think these are great and seeing the test video that was linked on Rev’s website and on @dyanoshak s post makes me think they are likely better at handling current than Anderson’s, but when the rating that is stamped on them states 20A will an inspector limit us to a 20 amp breaker?
Both the IEC and UL standards the 221-2401 has been tested against and given approvals for are printed on the side: IEC at 32A and UL at 20A.
These approvals mean they have passed the rigorous tests that are defined in these standards for industrial and residential applications, but they don’t rate or limit the ultimate capability of the connector.
You can say that, and we can pull up the website showing your 3rd party test results showing that it’s safe, but… stamped number say 20A. That’s what we’re specifically tagging Chief LRIs about, The physics is not the issue.
Emotionally It feels like how CIM motors come with wires of a gauge size that require 30A breakers by the strict definition of the wiring rules, but everyone puts them on 40A slots…
The reason why everyone powers CIMs from 40A slots is because R622 says explicitly that
Wires that are recommended by the device manufacturer or originally attached to legal devices are considered part of the device and by default legal. Such wires are exempt from this rule.
It seems to me that a wire connector is a wire, and the vendor Rev (on behalf of the manufacturer) recommends these connectors for this application, so we’re already covered.
Of course your inspector might contest either or both aspects of this.
