Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik
If you have the terminals somewhere they could run into something outside the robot, most plastic coverings won't save you. For instance, imagine a battery horizontal underneath a robot last year with the terminals down instead of up. Electrical tape isn't going to stay an insulator long in those conditions. It's only protection against momentary incidental contact, not violent contact or repeated rubbing.
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Well sure. You shouldn't design your robot in a way that allows the battery to be subjected to repeated hard impacts, but you also shouldn't leave the terminals exposed in case something ever happens. I think Tungrus meant that the battery would shift within the robot, not come into contact with the outside world. But think, for instance, of a piece of your robot breaking off and landing inside the chassis. It shouldn't short the battery if the two come into momentary contact. Likewise around the shop. Don't handle batteries in an aggressive or unsafe way, but I'd rather have some insulation on the terminals than none.