Connectors and Power Distribution

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Battery Connectors and Power Distribution doesn't seem very important until you forget to account for it while building your robot. Like the various communications lines that are required to run your robot; a slight human analogy to your central nervous system power distribution can be related to your blood vessels carting energy around to keep body running. When building your robot a lot of mechanical design elements need to be modified and create to allow for reliable delivery of power where needed. When performing maintenance on your robot you'll quickly find that have wiring with reliable connectors in key points will greatly assist you in removing and repairing your subsystems.

Considerations

Choices of power connections, communication connectors, and power distribution blocks are countless and can never been completely covered in full. However, there are some key items of consideration.

  • Will it supply the right voltage and current for your applications, what if if you need more current? Consider a wide margin to allow for additions and replacements. Often connectors and wiring that can handle twice the voltage and current are recommended. Is the cabling right for the type of communications? You high speed serial data should probably be shielded if it's ran in parallel with power serving "noisy" devices like motors and servos. A finally how easy can you replace the connector if you find a pin failure?

Power Connectors

Anderson Powerpole [[1]] connectors are favorites of amateur radio operators for DC electronics power distribution because they're reliable and relatively easy to source for consistency between emergency communications setups. They come with a range of distribution blocks, fused distribution, metering and other helpful connector accessories.

Pros:

  • Easy to terminate
  • Very robust
  • Easy to source
  • Can be obtained in larger current range sizes if needed
  • Available in more colors than just black and read.
  • Can be configured to have multiple power sources gained together (though two connectors, black/red, are most common configuration).

Cons:

  • A bit more expensive than other types of connectors.
  • Generally not considered repairable or re-useable.


Communications Connectors

Items -- Work in progress.

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Cabling

Items -- Work in progress.

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