Page 62 - Build Your Own Quadcopter_ Power Up Your Designs with the Parallax Elev-8

Chapter 3: Building the Ele v-8 41

Build Related

• Power-distribution board: Quad
• Power-distribution cable harness
• Two additional EC3 connector kits (10 male/female pairs in each kit)
• 48 in of 22 AWG red solid core wire
• 48 in of 22 AWG black solid core wire

A power-distribution board is shown in Figure 3.11. Its purpose is to eliminate the
cumbersome and awkward connections from the battery to the four electronic speed
controllers (ESCs).
Without the power-distribution board, you must construct two somewhat bulky and
clunky wire connection points between the battery terminals and the power wires that
connect to the ESCs. Don’t misunderstand me; you can do the latter, but this board just
makes it so much easier and does so with a much cleaner appearance to boot. It makes use
of wide electrical printed circuit board (PCB) traces that can easily handle the high currents
created when operating the quadcopter. It also has plated vias (plated holes that connect to
the underlying PCB traces) available where the raw battery supply can be accessed. This

Figure 3.11 Quad power-distribution board.