CHARGING JACK
NOTE:
Some modifications were made prior to the CSM Robotics Rumble 3.1.
The modifications were posted on that battle page rather than here in
the development history pages.
[02/16/2005]
The Wedge has been upgraded with a charging jack. This will allow me to recharge the
batteries in the robot without having to remove any of the armor panels. This is huge!
I will be so happy to use this new feature!
After fiddling around with a bracket to try to cleverly mount the jack somewhere where I could
access it through a hole in the top armor, I finally realized that the wheel wells were now
accessible due to an earlier modification to the base plate. This allowed for a very convenient
access point just in front of the right wheel, as seen in the picture (the round hole with
the round pin in the middle of it).
Here is the back side of the jack. It sits nicely in between the power switch and the
motor controller. An interesting note here is that the motor controller on the right controls
the motor on the left, and visa versa. I have no idea why I bring that up at this point, as it
has nothing to do with the charging jack. However, one interesting thing - perhaps a concern -
regarding the charging jack is that, because of the jack's design and the way that I wired it,
the positive terminal of the battery is now electrically connected to the robot frame! I will
need to consider this carefully to determine if this is a hazard or will interfere with
radio reception. Also, there is no disconnect
from the jack when the power is on, so if any conductive material gets jammed into the jack, it
could short out the battery! (By the way, the new power switch can be seen in the large version
of this image)
And here is the beast in the charging configuration. Actually, I will leave the robot right-side-up
while charging, but I had to get a good picture of the jack in use.Another unrelated tidbit of useless information: the green marble finish seen in the picture, above, is applied to the forward interior baseplate floor. It just makes the robot look nicer (more professionally finished) when the interior is exposed on the bench. I wanted it to have nice "curb appeal". The old base plate still has the white marble finish applied.
[02/17/2005]I modified the jack by drilling a larger hole in its place and installing an insulating grommet to electrically isolate the jack from the frame. After doing a little research, I discovered having an electrically charged frame was not only a bad idea, but there is a provision in the rules about it. So now the frame is not electrically connected to anything. Whew! However, I have one remaining concern about it. The charging jack remains connected to the battery regardless of whether the main power switch is on or off. Debris getting into the jack could create a short. I will need to create a plug or just use some tape to cover it during battle (or design a new power switch).