Quote:
Originally posted by Steve Shade
I have advised my teams for years to do the same thing Mimi's team does. We cut off the clips and put on one of the Anderson Connectors. Not only is it much easier to connect the battery to the charger, you never have to worry about the battery leads touching accidentally. From experience, it is best to solder the leads of the charger to the leads from the Anderson connector, and then cover over with heat shrink. You will need at least a 60W soldering iron to do this.
Steve
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We always solder the Anderson connectors onto the charger leads. The only time we used the clips was last year at VCU, when we were only allowed to use the the stupid 1A charger that came with the kit. Since we had plenty of 2A chargers, we didn't plan on using the 1A, so we didnt put new leads on it. Those battery clips are dangerous. The person in charge of batteries accidentally arc welded a metal link on the SME badge hanging from his neck.
We dont use that charger anymore.
Steve is right about soldering the leads with a 60W soldering iron. Soldering 6 gauge wire to anything can be difficult. Make sure u get a good strong joint he first time and strain relieve it. The charger will get banged around during transport to competitions, and a broken joint can be a big problem.
Once during a demo at the Riverfront Arts Center on the Waterfront, the leads on our only charger broke. I had to re-solder it with the 25W iron in my travel kit. I had to hold the iron to the wire for over 15 min to heat just to get the sold to melt on the 6 gauge wire. All I had for a work space was a Frisbee to catch the solder drops before they ruined the nice carpet (which I danced on a few weeks later during my Senior Prom at the Arts Center
). So do the job right the first time to avoid problems like that.