Splitting power out

[daveimi]

Just wondered which types of junctions people use to take a single power line in and split it for say two tz85's etc.

[mattsdragons]

I tend to use 2 wires coming off each side of a connection, simple but effective and hasn't let me down yet

[daveimi]

Sorry to sound dim but how do you do that? Solder them together?

[mattsdragons]

Yeah I just solder 2 wires in, twisted together and tinned up first then its all fine

[maddox10]

I use a Y harnas. Simple enough.

[daveimi]

Can you buy y harnesses pre made?

[maddox10]

yes,

Example.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...in_Series.html

[RogueTwoRobots]

Handy if you want to connect two packs in series, but just to make you aware Dave, that one won't be any use for powering two ESCs from a single power connection. The easiest way to do it would be as mentioned and just solder two wires to the one tab on the connector, or if there's not much room, solder one wire on and then splice a second wire onto it just slightly further up. I did this on Drumroll this year to massively simplify the wiring loom. There is a picture of it somewhere that I'll try and find (if I can on this phone)

[RogueTwoRobots]

Actually it was last year I changed it all, but here it is anyway. The link and battery connector are on the left, fuse at the top, three Deans connectors (two for the TZ85s spliced together, one for the weapon ESC) on the right and a mini Deans at the bottom for the LED. That's literally all there is to it.

dr2_build204_zps287a2df5.jpg

[daveimi]

That's really simple, I knew I was making it more complicated than it needed to be

[RogueTwoRobots]

In terms of splicing, a good soldering iron makes life a lot easier. I used to have one that I got from an 'electrician's starter kit' out of Argos (aka a pile of rubbish) and could never get a good joint. I later got a good quality Antex one and it made all the difference, along with a few extra years of practice/experience.

[daveimi]

Off to Maplin now to buy a decent one lol

[Coolspeedbot]

Actually it was last year I changed it all, but here it is anyway. The link and battery connector are on the left, fuse at the top, three Deans connectors (two for the TZ85s spliced together, one for the weapon ESC) on the right and a mini Deans at the bottom for the LED. That's literally all there is to it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5624[/ATTACH]

whats the fuse for exactly?

and do all robots need them?

[Garfie489]

whats the fuse for exactly?

and do all robots need them?

Not intending to sound harsh, but if you need to ask that question then really you should be looking up both basic electronics and the FRA rules.

Fuses are basic electronic safety devices, to put it in simple terms if you get a runaway of power demand then the fuse breaks the circuit by failing in a fail-safe way below the level where other more critical components would do the same. Fuses hence protect your house, and i believe by law are built into the plug of every standard UK appliance - so should they ever have a short, electrocute someone ect - instead of blowing up they just burn the fuse instead.

Similarly the question of "do all robots need them" is answered in the FRA rules. Read them, because otherwise there may be some other safety information youve missed.

[RogueTwoRobots]

A fuse is an electrical item, rather than an electronic device, but that's just me splitting hairs.

When you run components in your robot (such as motors), they draw an electrical current from your power source; in this case, your batteries. Most of that energy is converted into motion (your motors turning) but some of it is converted to heat. If there is more resistance in your components (say you're driving the robot into a brick wall so the motors are pushing against a solid object), they draw more current from the batteries which, in turn, also generates more heat. Every electrical component, so speed controllers, wires etc, will have a current rating, given in Amps. This is how much current the component can comfortably handle; if you greatly exceed this rating by drawing more current, you will likely destroy the component as it is unable to get rid of the excess heat from the higher current, hence the smoke/fire you get from a speed controller if you exceed its operating spec.

Fuses are designed to protect against this happening to components. They're basically a piece of wire or strip of metal that is designed to melt/break, caused by the heat, when a certain amount of current is drawn through them. They're usually designed to be fast-acting so that they blow quickly before the current has a chance to cause damage to your electronics. It's much cheaper to replace a 10p fuse than a £100 speed controller.

Fuses are recommended on all robots but are only mandatory on robots that run li-po batteries in the featherweight class or higher, though I believe it may be making its way down to the beetleweights.