Wiring Your Robot Control System.

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Teacher-Mentor Workshop (Supplementary
Material) Wiring The Robot Control System August
7, 2007 North Dakota State University
2
Introduction

• Each team will have their own robot design.
• For most part, the basic structure of the control
  system will be the same for all teams although
  minor differences can arise for teams that will
  use fewer than four motors.
• It is important for the control system wiring to
  be done correctly to avoid damaging some of the
  returnable electrical parts.
• This session shows the necessary steps in wiring
  your control system.

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Control System Components

• Control System Components are
• four motors,
• one radio transmitter,
• one receiver,
• two servos,
• two speed controllers,
• four SPDT microswitches,
• one wall switch,
• One receiver battery,
• one receiver battery switch,
• One fuse,
• One 7.2 V battery,
• various wires and cables.

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Transmitter Box Contents

• The FUTABA transmitter box has more than the
  transmitter

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Other Parts
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Other Supplied Parts
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Other Supplied Parts (Contd)
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Minimum Tools Required
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12 Activities to Connect the Control System

• The following steps assume that all components
  have been mechanically mounted on the robot.
• It is assumed that all four motors are used.
• Wire lengths recommended here were meant for
  demonstration only, students should use
  economical and convenient wire lengths
  appropriate for their designs.

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Activity 1

• Cut four pieces of red wire, and four pieces of
  black wire each of about one 1ft or less.
• For each of your eight wire pieces, stripe both
  ends and connect a male bullet connector on one
  end.

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Activity 2

• Solder the red-black pair of your wire pieces to
  each motor.
• Red is Positive and Black is Negative

12
Activity 3

• Prepare another set of two pairs of red-black
  wires of about 0.5ft or less.
• Stripe both ends, and attach female connecters on
  one end of each wire

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Activity 4

• Solder the other end of each of the four wires
  created in Activity 3 to the common terminal of
  the SPDT microswitch
• It is a good practice if the red-black pairs are
  connected to the two microswitches operated by
  one servo

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Activity 5

• Cut four pieces of red wire, and another four
  pieces of black wire.
• For each color (red or black) the following
  lengths are sufficient 2 pieces of 0.25ft, one
  piece of 0.75 ft and one piece of 1.0 ft
• Solder the pieces in a tree structure as
  illustrated in the picture

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Activity 6

• Solder the male connector wire to the branched
  wires as illustrated.
• Insulate all solder joints using the provided
  insulation tape.

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Activity 7

• Solder each of the red branches to the Normally
  Open (NO) terminals of the SPDT microswitches.
  Select the braches conveniently.
• Do the same for the black branches on the
  Normally Closed (NC) terminals of the SPDT
  microswitches.

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Activity 8

• Connect the 7.2 V battery to the system using the
  provided fused powerpole connectors.
• Connect the spade-connector end of the fused wire
  to one terminal of the provided wall-switch.
• Connect the spade-connector end of the other red
  wire to the remaining terminal of the
  wall-switch. Make sure the switch is in the off
  position

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Activity 9

• Connect the powerpole Y-harness to the 7.2 V
  battery-fuse-switch line
• Connect the other Kyosho Y-harness to one branch
  of the powerpole Y-harness.
• Connect its branches to the two speed controllers
• Connect the branched wire group to the other
  branch of the powerpole Y-harness.
• Complete connection should be as shown in the
  picture.

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Activity 10

• Connect the receiver to its battery through the
  provided switch cable.
• Connect the two servos and the two speed
  controllers to channel slots 1 to 4 of the
  receiver. You are free to choose the order
  depending on how you want to use your keys on the
  R/C.
• You can use the provided servo extension cables
  to extend the reach.

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Activity 11

• Connect the large motors to the speed
  controllers, using the bullet connectors.
• Although the polarity does not matter, use yellow
  for positive and blue for negative.
• Then connect the small motors to the
  microswitches also using the bullet connectors.
• Polarity does not matter also , but it is good to
  connect red to red and black to black

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Activity 12

• All is complete, turn on the radio transmitter
  before you turn on power on the robot.
• Then turn on the receiver power switch.
• And finally turn on the main 7.2V power switch.
• Run the robot.