…and use strain relief!
Use zip-ties, cable clamps, electrical tape, whatever, to keep tension off of the wires where they enter the terminals, and keep them anchored to the physical structure somewhere nearby, to minimize flex.
Screw terminals are an electrical connection, not a physical anchor.
a hair past snug…
luv it, is that techno-speak or what…
personally I prefer lb/ft but using a 2 foot torque wrench on 4mm screw heads isnt a good idea…lol
I do all of these things, and still find there is difficulty in getting wires into the terminals. I find that the terminals on the ABB and SSC-32 are pretty easy to bend back with almost no effort at all, which should really not be the case. The terminals on the Sabertooth don’t have what I see as this problem at all. It’s very easy to get the wires in and no problem keeping them in. They do not bend back like those on the ABB and SSC-32. No offense, but I would use the Sabertooth type screw terminals for my projects rather than those that are on the ABB and SSC-32. 
At least please consider switching the screw terminals being used. I really believe it would be a good choice.
8-Dale
If you want, I think you could take off the screw terminals and replace them yourself with the ones you like. It dosent seem that hard becuase the screw terminals dont look like they are hard to take off. They do move a bit which suggests they arent too tight. Might think of doing this. I know you can buy replacement screw terminals for boards, just dont know where you can get the Sabertooth ones, unless you get em from the manufactuerer. 
I second Linuxguy’s opinion. The terminals on the Bot Board and SSC-32 seem too flimsy and cheap to work with the switch harnesses that come with some of the kits. I’ve already had the VS1 terminal of my SSC-32 completley break off when my brat’s battery fell out, and that was with strain relief on the two wires. I also tried to solder on a new terminal block, but my iron took forever to even cause the solder to melt. I think this was more of my fault though because I only have a 15 watt soldering iron. Adding new screw terminals or even selling a version just with through holes so we could solder our own connections would be a big help.
I appreciate everyone’s input. The terminals are not going to be changed anytime soon. We buy in very large quantities in order to provide affordable prices. This often means that we have more than one year supply. Both boards are either in stock in bulk, or on order in bulk.
…SO start pulling some wires and modifying your boards boys 
Robot Dude…
I know this is the question you hate most but I am reaching the point where I’m in the market for a new controller and with these wierd Kondo servo’s, your power supply arrangement is the only one I’ve found that will handle it so…
Do you have a timescale or should I buy the existing one?
Jim, You think you could update the first post with all of the ideas/features you got out of this thread that will be on the Bot Board 2?
You said 8-10 weeks, eh? Hmmm, I will need to get back into robotics I think 
Make it support PICs =D
Hey guys,
Would it be too much to ask for some sort of bluetooth capability? I mean, maybe this should be on the new SSC-24 you guys were talking about, but I mean it would be so freaking cool if we could control servos wirelessly from our computer or palm pc’s or cell phones rather than purchasing remote controls.
gawd, linxmotion would be a god if that was possible, more than they are now 
.
All the Bot Board is for is to support the microcontroller. Bluetooth can very easily be added using external modules available from Sparkfun, and there are tutorials here and at Sparkfun for how to do it.
I think the design of the new bot board is pretty much set in stone already. I am still hoping Jim will design a super bot board that will have some different and added functions on it sometime in the future.
This upcoming new bot board needs to remain stackable with the SSC-32 so not much could be added, although some things could have been changed to make more space. The DB-9 connector could have been moved to a cable attached to a single or double row PCB connector for serial connections instead of mounting the DB-9 direct to the board. It can be difficult to get to the DB-9 sometimes, and having it on a cable would have allowed positioning it where it would be easier to get to.
I’d love to see a bot board that would provide stacking connectors to allow adding stackable modules such as for prototyping and solderless breadboards. The stacking connectors would provide all the MCU and related signals for the stacked modules, including custom boards. I know it’s a pain finding places to mount all the little modules we might want to add to our robots, and a stack friendly bot board could make this much easier.
Right now, I am wishing for a bot board type board that would support the various Renesas H8S and SX microcontrollers and all their expanded features.
8-Dale
yeah you’re right, as long as bluetooth can be easily added from sparkfun, im okay. i just dont want to spend hundreds on a remote controlling transmitter/reciever package when i know the cellphone in my hand is a perfect remote control.
ill ask around about this later.
oh and does anyone know when the new botboard + ssc-24 is releasing? i had planned to purchase the current botboard + scc-32 but id rather ugprade if its releasing in a few months.
Will it be possible to have the option of TTL or RS223 levels on the main serial port (S_IN/S_OUT)?? We already have this option on the current SSC-32 and it would be exceptionally nice to have it on the new bot board as well, so something like a ZigBee or Bluetooth module (i.e. BlueSmirf) could be added and robots could be programmed and debugged completely untethered.
I have found it very difficult at times to debug a control program for WALTER when I can’t see what it is doing while it is running. It’s hard to tell what it would be doing when the robot is tethered up on the bench.
8-Dale
And the BA IDE needs your robot to be connected and powered on to compile the program.
I would second LinuxGuy’s request except I am not sure if it is possible. Looking at the schematic my gut tells me the MAX232 or the equivilent to convert from TTL to RS232 is on the Atoms and BAs. It appears like the signals go directly from the socket to the DB9 connection. If it were possible, it would probably be a little more difficult than the SSC32 as it requires the RTS/CTS signals to come through.
I have tried to paly around with the Sparkfun Blue Dongle connected up to a ABB but have not had much luck yet. Will try again. Need to hack up a mini USB cable to provide power to the dongle…
Spacejunk - I believe that the current versions of Atom and Pro IDEs allow you to compile without having your robot connected to it. You need to select which chip you are using instead of relying on Auto detection…
Yes, it does. The Bluetooth link would simply replace the tethered serial cable. The robot would still be connected via Bluetooth wireless to the PC with the IDE running.
8-Dale
I checked the schematic also. but it did not occur to me that the level shifters might be on the Atom modules themselves. If this is the case, then it might not be workable to have the option of TTL or RS232 levels on the new bot board.
8-Dale
Not since IDE version 5.3 came out.
add programmibilty with java!
