Quote:
Originally Posted by Karibou
We have a cycle of 6 batteries. After experiencing several inconsistancy issues with older batteries last year, we purchased 6 new ones for this season. Even then, we discovered at our second competition that one of the batteries was a dud and we could not last half a match before we saw some failure in robot performance.
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Kara this sounds very interesting and I would go on a limb and say it is not the batteries themselves but how your team may be treating them. If you have gone through seven batteries in two years, I would look mainly at your chargers and how students are handling them. While it may not seem evident, handling the batteries by the cables or lugs directly can cause major damage, along with the obvious of dropping a battery will damage it. The plates that create the chemical reaction in them can shift or even pull out partially through mishandling.
Also what type of chargers are you using, and what connectors are on them? If you are not using a "smart" charger at the right current rating, you can be over or undercharging the batteries, thus again causing damage. Finally I would look at the connectors on the battery chargers, if they are alligator style clips, change the connector. The gator clips scratch the anderson connectors contacts and create an inefficient connection later on when in the robot. I would cut off the gator clips if present and swap them out for anderson half connectors, the same as used on the battery to make a solid connection.
As for failures with these batteries, if you see the battery dropping in 2 volt increments that is showing a failed single cell (per 2 volts) and means it is time to replace that battery.