What battery chargers ?
 

What battery charger have teams found the best to use ?

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

We use a pair of these:

http://www.andymark.com/Battery-Char...-p/am-2026.htm

They work pretty well.... and 2 will charge 6 batteries at the same time.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

This is the charger we use at CTRE.
Its a bit pricey but it charges eight batteries at a time.
So far, no complaints - works well.
http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/...g-station.html

For single-battery chargers I've used regular $80 automotive chargers from the closest hardware store, with a wide range of success (some terrible and some great).

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

We use one of these http://www.amazon.com/HiTec-44169-4-...=hitec+charger as our primary charger/maintainer with a couple of the KOP ones as backups.

It has four really nice displays (one for each battery) that tells you the current voltage and charging amperage. It also has some "PC link" features that allow you to access charging data on a computer but we have not taken advantage of that feature as of now.

That particular model requires you purchase an external PSU but there is a more expensive one that comes with one built in. We chose to get our own cheap power supply but I would recommend against it because its became a pretty big hassle (we needed to add fans to cool the PSU, etc...).

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender.../dp/B000NCOKVU

We got this one locally for a little less than amazon had it. Price worked out to be a little more than two of the ones linked above at Andymark, but it charges and maintains 10 batteries. We've had it for a few years and have noticed very little change in battery health (max voltage, sustainable amps delivered under load, etc) since. We are still able to use batteries several years old for heavy practice bouts or for a competition if necessary. At competition, by the time you use battery five or six, battery one is charged and maintaining.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

This would be illegal as it is capable of charging in excess of 6amps.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

We use Auto Meters BUSPRO-660. It charges 6 batteries independently of each other at the same time and has indication lights for charge levels as well as if the charger detects problems with any of the batteries. The charger will adjust voltage/current once batteries are charged and will maintain a full charge on all of the batteries.

Here is a link to the product page. http://www.autometer.com/6-station-a...-115v-agm.html

We also created a battery cart designed specifically for this charger with the charger mounted vertically. The cart hold 10 batteries (6 charging and 4 storage) and has wheels for easy transportation to events

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Any pictures of the cart?

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

+1 to bobs reply. We like ours. And I can get cart pics for you

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

I don't have any pictures on this computer but I do have a solidworks rendering on a flyer. We also posted the cad files on our Google drive as well as grabcad so if you are interested in looking at our cart you can. We also included assembly instructions. Ill try to get a picture next time I am at the shop.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Big discussion on that last year. I think we came to the conclusion (after someone asked HQ) that it's legal to HAVE the charger, but not to USE the >6A charging option. And if the inspectors see it, you can expect random spot inspections of your charging.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Cool, thanks. You'll have to stop by our pit area at Long Beach. ;)

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Not last year, but 2 years ago, I was part of that big discussion and asked the GDC. We have some stanley 15A chargers which we use to top off/float charge our batteries during competiton. We were getting horribly inconsistent performance from what we had which is what we still use to do the bulk charging but using these allowed us to solve the problems we were having. It's legal as long as at no point more than the manufacturer's recommendation(6A) is being charged to the battery.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Of course, there's one big problem with this statement...

I have the 2016 Game Manual on my desktop, but no password (yet--give it less than 36 hours and we'll take care of that). :p We'll find out whether this is still the case for this year when we can open the rules.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

FRC 4607 does have a couple of Dual Pro SR3 chargers from AndyMark. They are great and we have had no problems with them charging our batteries...

BUT,

if I could go back and redo our purchase, I would go for the Battery Tender as it offers more charging stations and is more compact than our two Dual Pro SR3's. When space is a commodity in a PIT, every inch counts.

Just my two cents.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

the safety manual is already out and accessible and they have a specific section for charging batteries which has been the same as previous years from what I can tell so the ruling in that regard should be the same.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Have you found that having 6 chargers available is enough? We have been running 6 of the KOP chargers for a few years with 3 batteries in backup and there have been times when the oldest battery on the charger was not fully charged when needed.

We have 4-5 batteries charging and 4-5 in storage at all times. If we pre charge all the batteries a night before we have no problem getting through all of our matches putting batteries on at 100%. It helps that our robots are generally simpler requiring less power in general.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

the battery tender is a max 2amp charger. Is that enough to ket them fuly charged at a competition? We have been running 6 of the KOP chargers at 6 amps and that is not always enough.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Is the issue the charger drawing 6A from the outlet or charging the battery with more than 6A?

Either way: why not simply insert a fuse at the limited current such that no one can accuse you of exceeding it because the fuse would open?

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

Running ten batteries we have never had battery number 1 not been charged as we get to number 7 or 8. Usually its earlier than that depending on schedule and practice field use.

We used to use the kop chargers and found that they would say 75% full when a battery was just cooking itself because it was done. Or they would report 100% when they were nowhere near done charging. Battery-Tender is pretty well known for maintaining batteries, and this charger hasn't dissapointed. We leave ours plugged in year round with occasional breaks for holidays when th e school wants all electric items off. We have batteries from 2012 that still rank near new using battery testers. We retire them to practice just because we get new ones in the kop or in FIRST Choice.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

I'm not sure that would be okay to do. Part of the reason why chargers don't get a lot of second guesses is because they meet specifications and are rated when produced. Anything you add to them has potential to decertify them for safety. I know what your saying doesn't make them more dangerous, but we had to have a lengthy discussion between the green shirts and our team electrical engineering mentor when we built a custom charging box that involved gang charging and voltage meters. They were concerned because we split charging between two batteries. The conversation was lengthy, but educational for all who witnessed it.

You probably could, just be sure that you have someone thre that is very confident in their wiring and also in their ability to explain why things were done the way they were.

Also, what happens when you set your chargers up and go to lunch then return to find all your batteries uncharged with blown fuses on your chargers?

The explanation we heard was that there should be no way possible for the charger to exceed 6 amps. If it was capable, you had to demonstrate that it never could in the mode you were using.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

That would be a dead giveaway you have exceeded 6A.
The whole idea is not only won't this mode allow 6+A but it can't get over that anyway.

Also do other people know how to turn off your chargers?
Cause leaving them totally unattended like that...

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

I know the point of it, but inspectors and safety folk don't always see the light...

Yeah, they use the giant on/off switch on the front of it :p . It comes home with me over the summer and lives in my garage. The charger in question is from a company known for battery chargers and maintainers that run continuously. This one is also designed for continuous use. Just check the fan from time to time and make sure the fan filter is clean and all is well.

Re: What battery chargers ?
 

some pics of our charger station