Electronics

cypressfalls Robert
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Re: Electronics

Post by cypressfalls Robert »

yes we can do that, in fact we wait to turn it on right before our run to save energy :D
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Re: Electronics

Post by yousmellchinese123 »

Okay, at regionals our machine was pretty bad o-o
We touched 4 times and half the machines didn't work. Also, the starting task inadvertantly started the action that lead to the final task, but the final task didn't start. We got 12th.

The part that I was stressed out most on was the melting the monofilament line. A week before the competition, I had it working by running a lantern battery through nichrome wire, I remade everything exactly but got a different brand lantern battery adn now it does not work, any ideas? o-o I spent like most of the time trying to fix it.
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Re: Electronics

Post by Primate »

yousmellchinese123 wrote:Okay, at regionals our machine was pretty bad o-o
We touched 4 times and half the machines didn't work. Also, the starting task inadvertantly started the action that lead to the final task, but the final task didn't start. We got 12th.

The part that I was stressed out most on was the melting the monofilament line. A week before the competition, I had it working by running a lantern battery through nichrome wire, I remade everything exactly but got a different brand lantern battery adn now it does not work, any ideas? o-o I spent like most of the time trying to fix it.
Grab a multimeter, make sure your connection works. If it does, find a new 6v battery. I've found that some brands just aren't powerful enough.
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Re: Electronics

Post by yousmellchinese123 »

I just did that today LOL cause I didn't have a multimeter at home I wen tto school with a battery and took the voltage of an energizer lantern battery, I was freaking annoyed it was at like 5 V. I think I sohuld stick with the Radio Shack brand cause it worked the first time? I changed it becaue the battery died right before competition and I told my coach to get me some lantern batteries, he got me the energizer, I tried it and yeah as you can suspect.

Anyways thanks for the Advice, I'll have to ask my coach to return the 3 he bought and go get some radioshack brand :D
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Re: Electronics

Post by courage7856 »

yousmellchinese123 wrote:I just did that today LOL cause I didn't have a multimeter at home I wen tto school with a battery and took the voltage of an energizer lantern battery, I was freaking annoyed it was at like 5 V. I think I sohuld stick with the Radio Shack brand cause it worked the first time? I changed it becaue the battery died right before competition and I told my coach to get me some lantern batteries, he got me the energizer, I tried it and yeah as you can suspect.

Anyways thanks for the Advice, I'll have to ask my coach to return the 3 he bought and go get some radioshack brand :D
We used all D batteries (1.5 volt) and had no problems with our batteries. They were Duracells, we only did one quick test, and used them essentially brand-new for Reg. I don't want to think about how many we've gone through.
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cypressfalls Robert
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Re: Electronics

Post by cypressfalls Robert »

Would it be a good idea on replacing all the wiring of the machine with magnet wire, it tends to take half the space and can be moved around alot easily?
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Re: Electronics

Post by Dark Sabre »

Short answer: no.

Long answer:
I'm assuming that your source for magnet wire (and other wire in general) is RadioShack. So here are my three reasons why you shouldn't:
  • Their magnet wire pack has 22 (40ft), 26 (75ft), and 30 (200ft) gauge wire. I wired with 18-22 gauge mostly. 26 and 30 gauge wire would have been too thin for my comfort, at least. I don't know what your particular current carrying needs are, but it isn't too hard to heat up those smaller gauges of wire.
  • Magnet wire, being enamel coated, is a lot harder to reliably strip the ends off of. I would probably kill myself if I had to wire a mission with it.
  • That wire pack is $6.59 and IMHO you only get 40ft of wire that is even vaguely useful for non-electromagnet/windings use (and it would still be a pain). You can get a spool of 90ft of 22-gauge stranded wire for the same price.
I would say that normal wire is safer, cheaper, and easier to use. ;)
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Re: Electronics

Post by fleet130 »

The best method I've found to "strip" magnet wire is with a match and a small piece of fine sandpaper. Light the match and burn the lacquer insulation off the portion of the wire you want stripped. Fold the sandpaper in half(grit side in), pinch the wire in it and twist/pull the sandpaper to remove the charred residue. This method doesn't "knick" the wire, which can cause it to break very quickly.
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Re: Electronics

Post by andrewwski »

Magnet wire seems like it'd be nothing of a pain. As DS mentioned it's a pain to strip (fleet's method seems to be the best). Plus it's solid - gets in the way more. Seems like 20 or 22 gauge stranded would be easier (once you get to 24 or so, solid isn't so stiff...but I'm not sure that I'd be using something as thin as telephone wire).
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Re: Electronics

Post by gh »

Actually, people on my team probably have stories about how I stripped almost all sorts of wire with fire when in a rush; I usually even made a spectacle by keeping a bit of insulation on fire before I pinch the flame and burnt insulation out.

Don't do this with PVC insulation or silicone insulation.
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