I am wiring our robot and i am a new wirer and i way wondering if it was legal to spin the + and - wires together to keep it neeter. I had the old wirer teach me how to wire. Is it ok to mount the cRIO on a piece of lexan that is a little bigger than 1/4 in with zip ties holding the lexan to the frame. I will mount the cRIO using the proper bolts. And what is the best way to sodder the range finder included in the KOP.
If I’m working with individual wires that I’m using to connect to power I always twist them together (I did this last year on the mini-bot wiring). Not only does it makes things look neater but it can actually reduce any electrical noise on the wires (the twists provide a kind of capacitive coupling that tends to shunt out high-frequency voltage spikes).
Helpful hint - use a drill to twist the wires together.
Trust me i do i put one end in vice put a ziptie around the vice end and then put it in a drill until it is nice and tightly spun and b4 i take it out of the drill i zip tie the drill end so it doesn’t unravel and then i cut off the part that was in the drill and vice to be safe.
It is legal though right and any thoughts about the cRIO
Because there is no rule specifically prohibiting it, yes, it is legal.
<R44>:
All active circuits shall be wired with appropriately sized wire:
So long as you use the appropriate wire gauge, you are in compliance with the rules.
In terms of the cRio mounting, yeah, that should be okay.
Rules 44 & 45 cover the use of wire on the robot. For example, there’s this:
The branch circuit 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 conductors.
A search of the rules reveals nothing to say that twisting the wires is illegal.
I hope you’re attaching the lexan backing to the frame using something a little more robust than zip ties only. CRIOs are kinda expensive to replace.
One last thing then I’ll shut up.
I’ve attached a presentation I give the team before build season starts. You might find it useful.
Have a great time…
Fundamentals of Wiring FRC robots.zip (578 KB)
Fundamentals of Wiring FRC robots.zip (578 KB)
Shaun,
Wire is best twisted when the ends are free. Using the drill at one end, have another student hold a wire in each hand. While you spin the drill, the other ends of the wire will also spin while the wire is being twisted. Tell your partner to let them spin in their hand and you will have a nice twist without damaging the wire.
Not only is the cRIO kinda expensive, it’s a big heavy brick with a good bit of inertia and not the sort of thing you want to come loose inside your robot. It may take you hours to get everything back the way it started. Or you may never get it back the way you started…
Can I quote a rule and fail you at inspection for mounting it that way? No, not really, unless I think it is a safety hazard. Am I going to suggest strongly that you change it when I see that at inspection? Probably.
Instead of the zip ties (which really should never be used to attach anything with any significant mass to the robot) can you get a couple of bolts through the Lexan and into the frame without them touching the cRIO case? That would be your best option.
Ok so i will through bolt the lexan through the 80 20 and i dont have a partner holding the other end i put it in a vice and one done put zip ties on each end after i cut the part that was in the vice and in the drill so there is no chance for damaged wire.
The lexan which is a 1/8 th larger than 1/4 doesnt even flex when you put the crio on it and you could even put the battert on it and it gives about a 1/4 of an inch
Not worried about the Lexan breaking. Worried about the zip ties breaking when you are driving forward at 10 ft/sec and are hit head on by another 150 pound robot that is going 10 ft/sec.
150 Lb robot? How did you get that one through tech inspection ::ouch:: 
Ok i will bolt through 80 20 on monday. Will it be a big difference if we only use 2 cims instead of 4 the for the drivetrain. Do you think that 2 cims will make our shooter recover that much faster than just using one and i know we ca only have 4a cims on our rlobit this year
120 lbs robot + battery + bumpers = 150 lbs
Shaun,
When you don’t let the wire twist naturally, the strands inside tend to twist to the point of breaking and force their way to the surface of the insulation. You might get lucky and then again, you might not.
We made our electrical board out of 2 pieces of Lexan sandwiched together. We zip-tied most everything else but bolted the cRIO down. It was hard to get the zipties through the modules. 
11 pounds when all was said and done. Note to self, replace the nuts with locking nuts tomorrow. After that, on to not making the cabling a rat’s nest.
cgmv123 - Why two pieces of Lexan?
You want to make sure your cRio is mounted securely no matter what… it’s expensive to replace, and a huge brick with a lot of momentum. Remember when mounting it, however, than the bolts you use to mount it to the lexan (or wood, or whatever your electrical board material is made out of) are likely to be electrically conductive as well - if those bolts them hit your frame or a bottom pan in your robot, the cRio will be grounded to the chassis (which means you’ll fail inspection until you correct it). So make sure you get some good backing there or cut holes to ensure those bolts aren’t touching anything metal other than the cRio!
We only had quarter-inch thick Lexan handy, so we sandwiched 2 together for extra support.
And the Lexan automatically isolates the cRIO, so we are set there as well. The Axis Camera is a different story.
What is the stroy with the axis camera i know how to wire it but mounting it? ?