Wires

Wires provide the means to connect various components on the electronics board. Every connection that is made has at least two wires, one for power and one for ground. The power wire, usually red, carries the current needed to power the component. The ground wire, usually black, blue, or brown, provides a return path for unused current. Some connections have three or more wires. The additional wire, is a signal wire that transfers information to the component. It is usually white or yellow, but can be any color if there are multiple signal wires.

Wires are measured in AWG, or their thickness. Wires with a larger AWG are thinner than those that have a smaller AWG. It is important to use the right size wire to connect various components, as thin wires cannot carry the current that thicker wires can carry. The following table lists the legal wire size for FRC robots, and should be used as a reference for wire size.

For more information on PWM wires and crimping, visit the resources page.