CMASS launch setup
From LUNARwiki
CMASS sets up 11 low power pads 15 feet apart in a circle with 3 high power pads in a bigger circle. You can see the low power range setup as seen from above here:
Pictures of the controller are here:
All the switches are momentary toggle. When you hold down the switch for a particular pad you can read the continuity through a meter which also has a red LED continuity backlight. To fire a pad or pads you hold down the toggle switch for the pad and a second momentary toggle switch that is under the red cover. There's a meter for battery voltage and one for amps. The box also houses the preamp and wireless mic receiver for our PA system. There are two 12 conductor wires that plug into the back of the box and go out to the center of the pads where each has a splitter. Three or four of the low power pads have relays that show continuity at the pad and also pass continuity back to the controller. You can see from the picture that the box could be smaller but it was free. The wires that go out to the low power pads are zip cord with 1/4" phone plugs. I've heard people say that they can't handle the current but I can fire a copperhead without using the relay with no problem. The high power pads have different relays that have local continuity checking but can't pass it back to the controller. The wires to the high power pads are orange extension cords.
Our previous controller had a rotary switch which was working until built the new one. I remember the switch as being expensive and difficult to find.
For smaller motor sizes we can fire a pad while an adjacent one is being loaded. 250 flights is a slow day. We regularly do over 400.
The CMASS system was wired with 1/4" phone plugs when I joined 16 years ago. We're still using some of the same wires. I'll concede that the plugs are not designed for what we're using them for. However, they do the job. The only problem we've had is finding good mono couplers. The last 4' with the microclips can be unplugged without pulling in the entire wire. Even the good copper clips have a very limited lifetime.
