Standard antweight slide switch current capability on spinner robot

Questions & Help
, ,
1

Hi All, new member to the forum and first time poster, so apologies if this is bringing up an old topic or I’m breaking any forum rules.

My son became fascinated with antweight robots whilst at Extreme Robots. So I’ve set about building a few for him to compete with in the near future.

I’ve built him a generic flipper already but I’m in the process of building a horizontal spinner. I’m using the 2 N10, the BBB brushless 20A ESC with a 2s lipo that rated at 350mAh and 70C. I’ve designed the chassis around the BBB antweight slide switch which states that it’s rated at 1.5A.

The BBB site shows the battery live terminal being switched, which effectively cuts the power to the Malenki and the weapon ESC. So stalling the N10s and 1806 motor the switch could theoretically be having more than 1.5A across it.

I’m just curious as to what other builders are doing in this situation. Are you using the standard slide switch and it’s coping with the current? If so, are suffering brown outs or switch failure as a result? Are you using a link such as an XT30 instead? Are you just switching the Malenki nano and leaving the weapon ESC connected to the battery? I’m guessing this is somewhat outside the rules!

Grateful for any guidance you can offer me. I’m a complete newbie but keen to try and get it right so my son has a reasonably reliable bot to compete with.

1 Like
2

I’ve never had issues with current on the switches

I imagine the 1.5A rating is from the manufacturer, for the continuous current it can handle. Fights are only 2 mins long usually, and the switch has plenty of time to recover from being overcurrent between them

3

Don’t worry about it, the switch is not likely to be rated for the current that a antweight will use, but it will still be ok.

You won’t be switching it off while the gubbins is at max current anyway (that might weld or damage the contacts), in a steady state it can easily take more.

Cutting power to the receiver only is not sufficient under current rules. While a brushless ESC should failsafe in that case, we don’t completely rely on it.

4

Thanks both for the quick replies. Much appreciated.

I figure this would be the case but wanted to make sure before finalising my design. It’s not like it’s making/breaking any significant load and high current are only likely to be short duration. If others had suffered issues then I would probably have moved to a different solution.

I did wonder about the fingertech switch but I’m struggling for space and it looks a little bulky to me. I also wondered about the pcb type screw switches you see in Australia and NZ. Would these be permitted under UK ant rules if they use a 2.5mm hex bolt?

5

Unfortunately in the uk we aren’t allowed to use tools for our switches in antweights so the fingertech and screw switches are a no go here.

6

This is incorrect. BBB allow screw switches in beetles such as the fingetech ones so long as they have a 2.5mm hex.

7

Ah, I forgot to say that thay are illegal in antweights. :sweat_smile:

1 Like
8

Thanks again all. You saved me going down a bit of a rabbit hole there. So it’s a link or a slide switch and that’s it really. I was at the point of trying to design my own pcb type screw switch.