Battery Charging Station

[BurkeHalderman]

Originally Posted by yash101

Also, another up on those window motors is that they will automatically brake because they consist of a worm drive!

No. Just no.

A worm gear will not break under a drivetrain application if used properly. In fact AndyMark offers a worm gear gearbox to be used for various applications such as lifting and drive. The advantage for using a worm gear is the anti-backdrive properties. Yes the KOP windows motors are breakable, but not all worm drives are made from cheaper plastic such as the KOP denso window motors. And if you break the worm gear a window motor then chances are some re-designing should be done.

AndyMark WormBox:
http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0917.htm

Team 1293 used window motors for their drive in 2003:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=33926

Basically why use window motors in a drivetrain application when much more suitable options are available.

Back to the OP's question, what I look for in a battery charging station is how many batteries it can hold, how many it can charge at once, maneuverability, and it's footprint. I'd recommend that your charging station should hold a minimum of six batteries, any less and you run a chance of not having fully charged batteries late in the competition (this is based off of my own experiences). As far as charging I'd get a 3-battery charger from AM:
http://www.andymark.com/Battery-Char...-p/am-2026.htm
We used one of for the last two seasons and they are great.
The charging station should be fairly maneuverable, and like everything in your pit should have a small footprint. The more room in your pit to work on the robot the better.

Here's an example of what I would consider the perfect cart:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ht=pwnage+cart

However it all depends on your resources. I look forward to seeing the results.