[Al Skierkiewicz]

Dave,
You are correct in your assumption that the main battery regularly falls below the 8 volt cutout for the RC ( we have seen robots that take this down below 4 volts on pulses). Generally a condition like reversing the motors will cause this as they fight to slow down momentum and then traverse a stall condition to change direction. However these are usually short duration pulses that the power supply in the RC can weather just fine. Since the modems are powered by the backup battery they should be relatively immune to power fluctuations on the main battery. The RC is a different story and I have seen teams that can improve life support for the RC by simply rearranging things in their electrical design. Frequently teams will take off power for the RC at the end of a long string of wiring that supplies power for high current devices. By feeding the small breaker panels with their own #6 input and return wiring (from the power distro blocks) and by using one of the first breaker positions to feed the RC, low voltage can be reduced. With four and six motor drives, it is very easy to loose 2 volts in the wiring and battery internal impedance on a fresh battery.