Problems That Arise and Things You Want

[M. Mellott]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

That's what the plastic battery flags are for. I devised them many years ago for the TechnoKats to use, and we gave away hundreds of yellow ones bearing the Team 45 number. AndyMark now puts their own white version in the Kit of Parts. They are intended to be inserted into a battery connector when -- and only when -- you remove a fully charged battery from its charger. You're forced to remove the flag in order to plug a battery into a robot, so you can't forget to mark a battery as used.

Some safety advisors have the mistaken idea that they are "safety plugs" and try to insist that every battery always has one inserted, but that's not how they're supposed to be used.

I love those things! I got several red plastic flags from the TechnoKats at the D.C. Regional last year. Using those in conjunction with AndyMark's white ones, we have a system to put the red flags on batteries after a match so we know it needs to be charged, and then put the white flags in the plugs after the batteries are fully charged. This, as you mentioned, also keeps the Safety Judges happy with a flag in every plug.