Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
While we are on the topic...
A good way to insure the connection of the terminals to the battery post is the use of star washers. By placing a star washer (internal or external star lockwasher) between the battery terminal and wire terminal, you will prevent the terminals from rotating around the provided bolt. An additional lockwasher under the nut will prevent the hardware from loosening as well. Any time the terminals rotate, you have the ability for the hardware to loosen and the resistance of the connection to climb. In addition, the lockwashers will pierce any surface contamination on the terminals giving you a lower resistance connection.
|
We use a bolt with nylon lock nuts to secure our terminals to the battery. I torque these bolts down as tight as I can (unlike what you do with automotive batteries). We have not had a single problem with the bolts coming loose or with the terminals rotating. I always use new terminals when I am preparing a battery, so I know I am getting a good low resistance connection to the battery. I am also very peculiar with how students carry batteries and I have seen engineers on our team who also carry the batteries incorrectly by the cables. This year I wrote a message on all of our batteries on the proper way to carry them.
On another subject. In Atlanta our robot developed a problem with our gear tooth sensors grounding to the frame causing us to look through the robot to pass inspection. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out, but what I want to know is why the screw holes on the gear tooth sensors are grounded? We have about a 1" nylon spacer to extend our gear tooth sensors out to the gear teeth, but the bolts that hold them to the robot go through the nylon spacers and then bolt directly into the frame, which caused it to be grounded. I don't believe it was like this at Lone Star or at the Bayou regionals.