12 Volt Battery Substitute

[maniac_2040]

Hey, I'm the programmer on my team and I'm using a Vex bot to test code on while the main robot is not complete, but I'm using the regular Robot Controller, which takes a 12 volt battery. As of right now, I am just using a 12 volt power supply, which is very inconvenient because the robot has a cord dragging behind it when I try to drive it and a regular 12 volt battery is much too big/heavy to put on this miniature bot. So my question is are there smaller and lighter 12 volt batteries I can use? Or, is it possible to use a 7.2-9 volt backup battery as the main power source? seeing as how I only have a few vex motors(which are powered via the backup battery anyways), a gyro, and possibly a CMUCam (also powered via backup battery) on the bot.

Thanks in advance.

[Kevin Sevcik]

You can just get a smaller SLA with less capacity, similar to this. Upside is you can charge it with your robot's charger. If you have an electronics surplus store somewhere near you, they're almost certain to have something like this in stock.

[maniac_2040]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

You can just get a smaller SLA with less capacity, similar to this. Upside is you can charge it with your robot's charger. If you have an electronics surplus store somewhere near you, they're almost certain to have something like this in stock.

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for! now all I have to do is find an electronics surplus store near me ..heh, would radio shack have something like this?

Thanks a bunch

[Kingofl337]

You can use the 9.2v for mainpower and a 7.2v for a backup battery.

[Kevin Sevcik]

The internet is your friend. You have a superb battery store literally down the road from you. Battery Warehouse Co. Specifically, this emergency lighting battery.

[maniac_2040]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

The internet is your friend. You have a superb battery store literally down the road from you. Battery Warehouse Co. Specifically, this emergency lighting battery.

LoL, not exactly down the street from me. At least 20 minutes from my house, and since I'm at my University right now, it's more like 40-50 minutes away.

I will probably get one of those later though. Thanks for the help.

[BrianBSL]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

You can just get a smaller SLA with less capacity, similar to this. Upside is you can charge it with your robot's charger. If you have an electronics surplus store somewhere near you, they're almost certain to have something like this in stock.

Unless you have one of the old exide 2A chargers or the 1-year 1A charger, I would be very careful about this. I'm pretty doubtful that any SLA smaller than our robot batteries is rated for a 6A charging current.