Two Batteries?
 

To teams that participated in this weekends regionals..

Did you follow the rules and only use the EX batteries provided in this years kit?
-a) If Yes, how hard was it to keep the batteries charged through all your matches?
-b) If No, why not?

We did only use the 2 batteries but many teams opted for more. As long as the matches we played in were about an hour or more apart we were fine. In the qualifying rounds, however, you would need 3 at least to ensure a fully charged battery.

You weren't allowed to "opt" for more batteries.. Is FIRST being leniant on this now? Do they realize 2 might not cut it?

St. Louis
 

For the finals in St. Louis we were allowed our 2 2003 batteries and any battery that we could have borrowed from another team.

so, does this mean that if you make it to the finals, you'd better go "scouting" for extra batteries? i'm sure it won't be a problem for teams not choosen, to charge up their batteries and lend them to you. the only problem is, will they be willing to, if they have more competitions to go to, and want as much power out of their batteries as possible.

We only used the 2 2003 provided batteries in competition. We did use 2 other batteries for other stuff. We used the 6 amp charger from this year and the 4 amp charger from 2001.

Our batteries lasted 3 matches or more. We never had a problem. Each morning, we were able to have 4 fully charged batteries. Besides our 3 practice matches and 8 regular matches, we ran about 2 hours of autonomous testing always using the practice batteries.

If we only used the 6amp charger and the 2 competition legal battteries, we would have been in trouble. However, with 2 practice batteries and an extra charger, we had no trouble at all.

Last year at Canada, our team just borrowed batteries from other teams when finals came.

Extra batteries in the finals?

We, too were worried about only being allowed to use the two batteries from this year. Our bot this year is a true voltage-hog. When we ran it back at the school during testing, we were constantly changing batteries. Yes, we were charging them completely before using them, and in fact, put a meter on them prior to use and ran the bot with a meter on it as well. Everything is working correctly but---we just use a lot of electricity.

We thought that we'd definitely be okay with batteries during the regular qualification rounds, but during the elimination rounds (if we make them), I was seriously concerned about first's ruling on the matter. I hope that "Evan" and "Clark Gilbert" are correct in what they say about FIRST's new position.

This is similar to what happened with the trickle chargers not being enough to keep up with the demand. It would be silly for every team to now have to deal with a new parameter (energy usage) during the two minute period. Remember, you HAVE to compete when your time comes--you can't say, "Wait a few minutes until one of the two batteries you allowed us to use is charged".

I'm sure FIRST will see the light.

As long as you use 2003 batteries in the finals, it shouldn't matter if they are the ones provided specifically to your team by FIRST, or if they are borrowed from another team. FIRST's reason for making teams use the batteries supplied in this year's kit is because they hold a charge longer than the batteries we've had in the past ... something like that - it was in a team update. Bottom line? Make some friends with teams that aren't in the elimination rounds!
Hahaha ... FIRST ... see the light ... get it?

Nice pun. ;)

- Katie

Let me know if this is not correct, but can't we use the batterries from 2002 in addition to 2003?

No, for competition you can't use any batteries except the two that were in your 2003 kit. These are marked EX12-18. Any other battery in your robot will not pass inspection and will get your team DQ'd if an official sees it on the field. :(

I heard from one of the FIRST officials at St Louis that the intent of this rule is to prevent veteran teams from getting a power advantage over rookies by having more spares.

i held our batteries we have from last year next to the ones we have this year and we have 4 batteries marked EXACTLY the same.

We used the 2 from this year just to be safe when we got into elemination rounds we borrowed batteries from a few teams just to make sure we had enough (thanks to those teams that lent to us -1000 and 1064-)

We were doing fine during qualifitcation though just using the 2 from this year. During practice we used the old batteries, to save the others for matches, and when we are testing in the pits or running autono outside of matches we were using the old batterie.

Andy Baker asked the FIRST officals at St. Louis and they told us for the Elmination matches we could use any 2003 battery from any team.

ours are the same in 2002 and 2003 too.... so why are we not able to use them....

Yeah, the 2002 batteries are marked EX18-12, also. What's the difference?

we are feeling the same way...someone said something in another thread about ES vs EX but all of ours are EX

our kit came with three batteries

Three? How did that happen?

Off the top of your head... does anyone know the location of specification on batteries for 2003 within the manual???? I'll start searching.....

Just to make it more confusing. The spec sheet out on the FIRST site is for the ES18-12, not the EX. FIRST is trying to keep everyone using only two batteries. What their motivation is for doing this, I don't know.

You can't buy the EX18-12's. They don't exist in the Exide parts list. It is apparently a special number for FIRST. Whether they are different from the ES18-12 is anybodies guess.

Here, check these out:

Batteries
Batteries?
Exide Batteries?
Extra Batteries

- Katie

Already read those, this thread was to see how people overcame the trouble of having only two batteries.. if it was troublesome.