[Doug G]

In 2008, we did 2regionals and a scrimmage before atlanta, and had the battery mounted on it's flat side in the robot. We then lost two matches at Atlanta because two of the six batteries we had been using would die during a match. They would read 13volts on a meter before a match, but under load it dropped to 6 volts or so. We eventually figured out that one or more of the glass plates within the battery must have cracked or have been compromised. We now use a 50 dollar load tester from napa auto parts to make sure the batteries are still ok when at competition.

New students see those batteries as industructible heavy objects and don't realize how careful they need to be with them. I also recommend mounting them as vertical as possible to reduce the stress on the plates inside.