[Al Skierkiewicz]

For you who have had battery problems, the absolute cause comes down to a variety of issues. I have been in contact with the manufacturer who is testing batteries using the same charger supplied by First. To date they have not reported anything out of the ordinary. Teams should not compare MK batteries with previous years as they are different in construction. There is a difference, between gell cell batteries and the MK AGM batteries. It would appear that the MK batteries are a little more sensitive to shock and mishandling. The hotspots in a battery case are likely the result of two or more plates in a cell being forced together by this rough handling. The result is a short in that cell. Heat is an indication of high current flow. AGM batteries are also sensitive to overcurrent charging. Charge currents higher than 6 amps cause the plate structure to deform also resulting in cell shorts. This is also true of batteries that are stored at high temperature or repeatedly put on charge without rest. Allow batteries to cool before returning to charge following a match. I have also noted many teams who lift and carry the battery by the leads. The battery is not designed for that and internal damage is the result. If you have team members who practice this method, suspect that as one of your causes.
Finally, all batteries have a finite life cycle. First batteries since 2001 all have been about 400 charge/discharge cycles max. Repeated high current discharge (i.e. full discharge in a single match) shortens this life by half or more.