[Toa Circuit]

We're using the KOP chargers. (With anderson outlets of course) Haven't had too many issues with these. We do a 2 amp charge overnight (Treat your batteries right when you can!) and a 6 amp charge during competition time to boost the charge speed, and to 'top off' batteries. (I've noticed that a 2 amp charge leaves about 12.6 volts in the battery, whereas a 6 amp charge gets us to 13.1, even with two year old batteries. Our robots haven't been big power drawers until this year, though.)

Higher voltage (as long as it isn't surface voltage) is always better. Duh. It means less voltage dipping through the match, etc.

But if you're experiencing inconsistent performance based on battery voltage, You have a bad design. You will experience voltage drop throughout the match, during movement, so basically, if your performance is hinging upon a perfectly (not fully) charged battery, you really need to rethink how you've built something. (Though this late in the season... what can you do? Maybe use the battery reading in your programming to do something like an open-loop control, or you can slap on a sensor to do closed-loop control.) (This is my #1 concern with all these motor-powered catapults this year...)