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Terminology

Basic Electrical Terminology

Volts (Power), V

The potential difference in charge between two points

The size of the force that sends the electrons through a circuit


Amperes (Current), Amp, I

The unit used to measure electric current

The number of electrons flowing through a circuit. 


Watts, W

A measure of the rate of energy transfer of an appliance

The rate of energy generated or consumed


Ohms (Resistance), 𝝮

A measure of the opposition to current flow in an electrical circuit


Circuit:

 A closed loop of conductive material.

Continuous flow of electric current. Positive to negative or ground. (+, -)

Series: 

Components are chained together from positive to negative to positive, etc.


Parallel: 

Negative to Negative and Positive to Positive


CANchain - 

The chain of CAN devices and their connections gives information to each other. Also referred to as CAN bus, there may be multiple for different parts of a robot.

Electrically, the FRC CAN network is a two-wire bus, designed to allow dozens of devices to talk to each other with a single network. 

Needs two 120-ohm resistors to terminate the ends of the bus.

Bandwidth:

the ability to measure a signal


Multimeter: 

  • Electronic measurement tool

  • Used to measure various electrical values

  • Analog vs Digital