Re: Lowering the voltage on a spike
 

As it relates to an earlier question in this post. There is no limit on the length of wire you may use on your robot. As long as the wire size is protected by the specified breaker you may do what ever seems to make it work. However, at a window motor operating current of 2 amps you would need to add 100's of feet of wire to you robot to achieve a reduction in current.

Relays are not happy switching quickly (>2 or 3 Hz) and get really unhappy when the load is inductive, i.e. motors. The switching current causes some arcing as the contacts break open which eventually leads to pitting of the contact surface. Since this damage has a dominoe effect, the eventual failure can be either a permanent open or a permanent close. Neither are desirable. Your only alternative seems to be a change in gearing or a swtich to Victor. Sorry.

Re: Lowering the voltage on a spike
 

And of course, whether you choose to go with a victor or a gear ratio reduction depends on a few things:

If you could use the extra torque (who couldn't?), go with a gear reduction
If your mechanism isn't designed to take changes in chain length like that, (this happened to us a few years back), go with a Victor.

If you can afford the extra weight of a victor, but never need to go as fast as you can right now, and a gear reduction is simple, do both. The variable power output of a Victor is always nice, it allows for things such as PID.