[Al Skierkiewicz]

Boy Joe, you took a long ride in the way back machine. In reality what we no know about these connectors is that one failure seems to override all others. Teams who use alligator clips (those supplied on the battery charger) to connect to the battery for charging, will scratch the contact surface. This causes there to be high spots on the surface of the contact that severely limit the area through which current is passed from battery to robot. The reduced area translates to higher series resistance. Ohm's Law tells us that if you raise the resistance, while keeping the current the same, increasing power is dissipated in the area of the resistance. When you try to pass several hundred amps through that pinpoint of contact, significant heat is generated. That heat can be excessive enough to melt the housing, fuse the contact(s), heat the wire attached to the terminal and it limits the amount of current available to drive the robot. There are other failures to be sure, but contact damage is the most prevalent.