[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Kevin,
You would have to get the motors up to speed to generate 12 volts in the motors. While you can get enough voltage and current to light the LEDs, I don't believe you can exceed the reverse bias maximums. Remember that the rest of the robot is also supplying a significant load to that controller when the robot is pushed. When you connect the battery, you get a low impedance, high current voltage source at 12 volts.

I swear to you that I have seen the kids push a robot (possibly in low gear) hard enough to boot up the old IFI controller and all the rest of the Vics. I admit I haven't seen it with the newer control systems, so they may provide enough load that nothing actually boots. Or we've just gotten lazier and put all the bots on carts since then.