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Camcons

"Camcons" are the little green connectors we use for high-current (over 1A) wiring in robots kits. A major benefit is that the plugs have screw terminals, making attaching/detaching them to wires very convenient.

We mainly use three types, based on their pin count and pitch (the distance between the pins):

  • 2 pins, 7.5mm pitch
  • Used for the six 12V outputs on the power board, and the corresponding 12V input on the motor board.
  • 2 pins, 5mm pitch
  • Used to connect motors to the motor board.
  • Also used for connecting an external power switch to the power board.
  • 2 pins, 3.81mm pitch
  • Used for the two 5V outputs on the power board.
  • Also used for connecting an external start button to the power board.

The motor board's UART interface (an alternative to controlling it over USB) uses a fourth type: 4 pins, 3.81mm pitch. However, we don't currently make use of this feature in the kit.

Camcon

Etymology

As far as I can tell, "camcon" is a completely made up name for what is formally a "pluggable terminal block" (which is how Onecall refers to them, for example). My guess is that it's short for "Camdenboss connector", though Camdenboss make a plethora of other types of connector too.