As we bagged n tagged the robot we put the control panel in last second (in a very literal meaning of the phrase :headdesk: ) and So until we can touch it, the wiring is horribly unorganized/mostly disconnected.
Any tips to making it easy to route wires, quickly connect/disconnect the control board, ect. are very much appreciated.
Crimp connected quick-disconnects work well. If you can, have the wire from each motor terminated in a quick disconnect that gets the run of fire from the motor to a place where it can be neatly secured to the frame. The the wire run from the speed controller or spike can end with an opposite (male/female) quick disconnect. This allows you to quickly disconnect (without tools) any motor from its controller.
Try to plan out exactly where a wire needs to go, and then pick a route to get there that keeps it out of the way.
I always urge teams that I mentor to use plastic wire channels (one brand name is Panduit)
The Panduit shown is a great way to do this. However, nothing beats a driven student who can show the others how to neaten stuff up. I do not recommend trying to add connectors simply to make swapping items like the PD as these rarely fail and everything on them is already connectorized. I prefer to minimize single point failures in a system or individual component by adding a connector where one is not needed. Tywrapping to the robot frame, bundles of wires is a very good way to minimize weight while keeping wiring from being dragged on the floor or removed by other robots.
probably a little late, but this is awesome and easy to use. works with any number of wires too!
I recommend the adhesive backed/screw mount model “E”. Preferably in black. Use small black zipties and a zip tie gun to run the wires. these mounts are great and we use them all the time to run all our wires and pneumatic tube. They are lightweight, stable, easy to add wires to, and expandable to fit any amount of wires. Removing wires is as easy as clipping a zip tie, and because the adhesive is on the back, you can trim off edges if need be with a band saw to fit in tight spaces. We also use small stick on numbers on each end of every wire. The same number gets put on the PD board and the motor, jaguar, etc. So each motor has its own wire setup. For pneumatics, we do the same thing with colored tape from the solenoid to the cylinder. Good luck and I hope it works out!
To All,
I am not an Electrical Engineer. Mechanical Mentor, but Anderson Connectors from Power Werx helps to make for better connections. We use a lot of AMP Connectors also. A hard working neat Students can sure make a difference in the look and feel of the wiring on the Robot. Zip Wire also helps. If not familiar with this wire it is a red and black wire moled together. So, this reduces the number of wires you need to chase if there is a wrong connection. We have not found a good source for wire marking. Does anyone know of a source. We do not use Panduit. We can not afford the weight. We use Zip Ties by the dozens.
PS, Monta Viista HS recommended Power Werx and Zip Wire as a solution.
Grouping/bundling your wires together to neaten things up is good but put low level signal wires (inputs and outputs from Digital Side Car, inputs to the Analogue Breakout) in separate groups from the power wiring. The power wiring may cause noise to couple into the low level signal wires.