Page 408 - Robot Builder's Bonanza

GOOD DESIGN PRINCIPLES 377

BEST CONNECTIONS
Use plastic ties to bundle the wires together. This keeps them all tidy. Or, instead of using
individual lengths of insulated wire, use ribbon cable, which is made of many pieces of wire
bonded together as a unit.
When making interconnecting cables, cut the wires to length so there is a modest amount
of slack between subsystems. You don’t want the wire lengths so short that the components
are put under stress when you connect them together. But don’t go overboard; you also don’t
want, or need, gobs of excess wire.

Using Clip- on Jumpers

Another kind of cable is used when experimenting with and testing your robot electronic cir-
cuits. These are clip- on jumpers. The jumper is made with flexible insulated wire, where both
ends have some kind of spring- loaded clip. You attach the clips to wires, components, or
another part of the circuit to make temporary connections.
You should get at least one set of clip- on jumpers for routine testing and experimenting.
Jumpers are available with three basic kinds of clip- on ends:

• Small alligator clamp, useful for smaller components and wires. Don’t use these to attach
to an individual pin on an integrated circuit (IC). They’re too large and will cause a short.
• Large alligator clamp, good for motors and other, bigger components (the wiring is heavier,
too).
• Push- in hooks, ideal for use when connecting to the individual integrated circuit pins.

All three kinds are shown in Figure 30- 13.

Good Design Principles

While building circuits for your robots, observe the good design principles described in the
following sections, even if the schematic diagrams you are working from don’t include them.

Figure 30- 13 Assortment of common
jumper cables: hook, small alligator, and
large alligator. They come in various colors
and lengths. Always use the jumpers that
have fully insulated (plastic- covered) clamps.
They help prevent short circuits.

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