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Originally Posted by Joe Ross
Now, as an engineer, lets look at the ratings of the provided connector, the battery, and the circuit breaker. The battery can provide 230 amps for 5 seconds (per the data sheet posted by FIRST). ... For the answer to that, I point you to this picture: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pi...gle&picid=3832 |
One needs to consider a few other factors in this discussion. On peaks (not sustained loads) this battery is capable of much higher currents at full charge (400 amps or above). The circuit breaker as well can handle short peaks at 600% it's rated trip point or 720 Amps. These peaks in and of themselves, are not sufficient to damage the provided connectors. Some teams are just designing their robots to run at excessive currents, where the average is well over 50 Amps. Add to this the practice of charging with alligator clips which damage the connectors, partially engaged connectors, dirt and other contaniments, and the resistance at the terminals of the connector skyrocket. This increased resistance translates the high current to heat and the connector fails. Moral of the story is then to change the design for lower currents, install a mating connector on your charger that matches your battery, keep the contacts clean and make sure the connector is fully mated when going in to competition.