Quote:
Originally Posted by tuXguy15
This year our robot drew a lot of current and it killed the batteries when we had to keep recharging them constantly. Also i know that 15 volts wont last longer. My point is that we are not managing our batteries right if we arent getting 15 volts. The 6 amps wont get it there because doing a 6 amp charge does not allow a peak and level type of charge that those types of batteries need. You do 2 amp until it peaks then 4 until it peaks then6 to finish charging it's.
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Something is fishy.
We constantly charge our batteries. We have 10 'competition' batteries, with another couple that we keep to charge the inverter on our cart. We draw plenty of current from the battery, and it's not unheard of for us to see the batteries drop to 6-7 volts when we're driving on our practice field. Nothing you've said leads me to believe that your batteries should be dying.
Our batteries fresh off the charger come in at just a touch over 13 volts, but let sit for a couple minutes for the surface charges to drop, they go down to 12.8 - 12.6. When our batteries are not on the robot, they are always on charge. I question your assertion that the batteries should be at 15 volts. I have never once seen an FRC battery come off a charger at 15 volts, and would worry if they did.
I think we need some more info. Are you running matches on the batteries without fully charging them? Are you overheating them?
Again: these batteries (generally speaking) should not die after a season of FIRST use if handled correctly. We have heavily used batteries from 2008 still going strong, and our last 2007 ones just failed this past year.