![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/altronixPD8.jpg\" "\\"Altronix")
<\/a>\nThe Altronix PD8<\/a> (Amazon<\/a>
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=B0006ZKWOI&camp=217145&creative=399349\")
) comes out of the security industry (alarm systems) and which takes up to 28VAC\/VDC @ 10A as input on a pair of screw terminals and distributes it to 8 individually fused outputs on two strips of screw terminals. There is a handy slide switch to switch power on and off, along with an indicator LED. Dimensions are 5\/25″ x 3.25″ x 1″. The board takes standard 3AG (1.25″ x 0.25″) glass fuses. For some odd reason, even though the instructions say the board is good to 10A, the main bus fuse I got was rated for 5A. The output fuses are 3.5A. A pretty good deal for around $20<\/a>. Good documentation on the Altronix website, including CAD drawings. Altronix also makes 4 and 16 output versions, as well as PTC fused<\/a> versions.<\/p>\nOne problem I’m constantly having in building medium-sized prototype robotics systems is power distribution. I’ve got enough sensors and things that I don’t want to have one massive wire junction tied into my power supply. Terminal blocks are sort of OK, but I’ve always felt they were a bit lacking and also didn’t provide any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-robot-building"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.robogourmet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/4805-small-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Miller")
<\/a>
\nIf you have a smaller robot, or just don’t need all the circuit protection, there’s the Miller Engineering #4805<\/a> (near the bottom of the page). Originally designed for lighted signs for model train sets, this takes in power via a pair of binding posts or a DC barrel jack and gives you 10 outputs on two rows of screw terminals. Dimensions are 4.5″ x 2.25″. In the original application, this took 4.5VDC and drove 180mA signs. This is a bit low for many robotic applications, but I’m sure the board can probably handle more current unless they really skimped on trace widths. As I mentioned, there is no circuit protection for this board. Runs about $15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"