Quote:
Originally Posted by stinglikeabee
Are you using a non-sealed lead-acid battery or a sealed type like that on the robot? The initial suggested battery (by the way, the OP is no longer considering this option) was a deep cycle spillable lead-acid battery. Lead-acid batteries product hydrogen while charging and are a potential safety hazard given certain conditions.
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Given the culture of safety that is built into FIRST competitions, I'd like to hope we have the respect for other teams to think that they would take into consideration items like this. The general idea between using a large deep cycle battery is to gain the benefit of a large reserve capacity so charging at an event should be a non-issue. With that said, even if you are charging a battery at an event, charging in an open area like a gymnasium or similar area should be another non-issue as long as there is some ventilation.
There are some things that I can agree the rules should address. I don't think that this is one of them. There are enough people at a competition to observe and make recommendations about safety aspects. I don't want to see the rule book increasing in size again after it was shrunk down. It's hard enough to get kids to read the whole thing the amount of times that I ask them to.
If we ask for rules on every last item that could ever prevent the slightest possibility of an unsafe condition, we run the risk of crushing opportunities for innovation. Im not saying I'm not in support of a perfectly safe environment, just that if the people who make the final call are in New Hampshire, it would be hard to judge a system they have never seen or witnessed operating. We have had a number of things that have been quoted to us as safety law that I would never let a student do for fear of personal injury. I don't even want to start thinking about the event electrical wiring set-ups at some of the events I've been to in the past three years...