Help with choosing parts for a first robot, please.

[dotDominic]

Cool, thanks for the advice. Where did you get the sticker sheets from?

That's a really cool looking robot by the way! Is it new?

[Garfie489]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HS52...051_TE_3p_dp_2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HR7L...051_TE_3p_dp_1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HSOI...986871_TE_item
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HRPV...986871_TE_item

You will look at the size and think its far more than you ever need in your lifetime, and it is. But something 5 times smaller is only £2 off, so you might aswell get the stupid roll.

And yes, Utopia Mk2 is new to this year. Its first event was at Ally Pally in Jan. Has some problems relating to self righting atm

[dotDominic]

Haha, thanks very much!

Cool! Well, it certainly looks the business!

[dotDominic]

Ok, so I've just received a bunch of parts from hobbyking. (Yay!) But I'm starting to think I went a bit overkill when I bought XT90 connecters & 12 AWG wire for a featherweight. Not sure why I didn't ask for any advice on here - I was terrified of buying some with too low a rating and having everything blow up. Thankfully I haven't opened anything so it can be returned/refunded, I think.
But anyway, what are recommended wires & connectors for a featherweight? Does it depend on the Motors/ESCs/Batteries used?

[Rapidrory]

I use XT60s generally, and anything with a rating of 30amps or over is fine for drill motor drive. A good rule of thumb is that the connectors you use don't need to be any larger than the one on the battery, as that takes the most current of all of them. If you have the space, there's nothing wrong with using XT90s, they're just a little overkill unless you have a big electric weapon fitted. 12 AWG cable is about right for a feather if I remember correctly.

[Niels - Team K.a.L.M.]

I use 12 and 14 awg wires in my machines.
XT90's are somewhat big but will do the job.

[Ellis]

I tend to use Deans/XT connectors, but anything along that scale is fine. For drills you could use 14awg comfortably, but I would still make the main power lines (LiPo/fuse/link/up to distribution for the ESCs) 12awg. Spinners and big weapons in feathers use heavier (10awg and sometimes 8awg), so you'll use it up for sure.

[dotDominic]

Right ok, thanks for these quick responses! I was also a silly sausage and didn't buy the right size of heat shrink for covering the joins between connectors & wires. Just wondering what do people usually use for that?
Thinking I might need to buy more wire too, so I might as well return the XT90s and buy XT60s instead. Are XT60s ok for a removable link too?
Sorry about more questions, just wanted to double check: Is the connector on the end of this battery I've bought ( http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking...Lipo_Pack.html ) the same as this: http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking...0pcs_set_.html ?
And if it is the same, I'd therefore need to buy those connectors too, right?

[Rapidrory]

I just wrap insulating tape around the solder joints instead of heatshrink, but I know most people like to use heatshrink for it... can be a bit of a pain if you forget to put the heatshrink on before soldering it up though.

XT60s are fine for a removable link; it's what I use, as well as quite a lot of people use.

And yeah, those connectors are the same as on the battery, so you'd need some of them... You could also use those instead of XT60s for the rest of the bot if you didn't want to buy 2 sets of connectors.

[dotDominic]

Cool, thanks very much! I might as well just use insulating tape then.