Re: [FTC]: Losing Control During Competition
 

This has the added, ahem, 'downside' that your chargers
can no longer be loaned out at tournaments.

Then again, conversely you can't leach off of another
team's charger.

In hindsight, saving the molex connector and attaching power
poles to it for compatibility purposes and then just packing
that away in your travel kit is probably a good idea.

Re: [FTC]: Losing Control During Competition
 

In fact, a fair fraction of the teams have done the same and equipped their chargers with powerpoles... so you can share with those teams.

Re: [FTC]: Losing Control During Competition
 

We cut 6" off the charger end and attached a Powerpole giving us a little Molex to Powerpole adapter cable so someone can charge a Molex battery using our charger if needed.

The end we clipped off the battery was too short to make an adapter for the other end.

Re: [FTC]: Losing Control During Competition
 

I haven't seen any teams doing this in either the Los Angeles
or San Diego qualifiers we've competed in in either of the last
two years.

I'm pretty sure it will catch on though as it's a vast improvement
over the stock connector.

Re: [FTC]: Losing Control During Competition
 

We haven't done it yet because of our budget, but when we get enough, that is the first thing I want to do, many teams in Missouri use Power Poles, and they are much more reliable then the stock Tamiya connecters on the battery, because the female end expands and the male end doesn't have a good connection any longer.