Talon SRX CAN Connectors

What suggestions do you have for CAN connectors between Talon SRXs?

Last year we soldered all of the CAN connections. It took some time, but the CAN network was rock solid. We also did not have to change a Talon (knock on wood!).

This year, we’ve started using these latching polarized connectors from Hansen Hobbies. In some early testing, we found some drop outs on the CAN network. After many hours of testing we replaced a few connectors and the network seems OK.

I can imagine that much of the problem with the connectors is not the connectors themselves, but rather proper crimps on the pins. In any case, there’s room for error that I am looking to remove.

What connectors are you using for your CAN?

I’ve always loved Anderson PowerPoles:
http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/housings-contacts/1327-1327G6-pp15-30-45-colored-housing.html

We use the same connectors but from digikey:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0701070001/WM2533-ND/210968

http://www.wago.us/products/terminal-blocks-and-connectors/installation-connectors/compact-splicing-connectors-for-all-conductor-types-222-series/overview/

They seem to work well. A bit bulky and not easy to mount to a board but they work and are easy to swap out, add another controller to the CAN bus, etc. The student doing electrical on our team is the one that picked them to the best of my knowledge.

Vex CAN connectors.

APPs are much too large for the CAN wires, both for crimping and impedance purposes. We considered using molex’s new polarized genderless connectors, but as many of the can wires have to go into these sort of connectors on the RoboRIO, PDP, and PCM, it made sense to have all of the wire ends be the same and use these or at least something similar. These have an impedance selected specifically for CAN.

Another vote for the CAN connectors from CTRE/Vex. Easy to mount somewhere and super simple to add/change/remove devices on your CAN chain.

This is how we did it last year: https://goo.gl/photos/53V8LWUjHWoYXNjz6

Male and female PWM connectors with a zip tie to secure it. It’s not gendered, but the colors are a pretty easy match. This also lets you connect it to a PWM signal if you need to.