One speed vs Two speed gearboxes

[Munchskull]

Originally Posted by Dunngeon

As a general rule, we only run competition batteries for 2 years before retiring them to a non-competition use, such as a practice bot.

Electrically speaking the age alone of a battery is irrelevant to it performance. What you should really be checking for is internal resistance. A lightly used, well cared for battery can last longer than just two years, while a heavily used battery that is poorly mantained may not even last that long. However you are right that the battery will increase in resistance with aged, but the lagest factor in a batteries life expectancy is not the age but the usage and care. You may have more batteries that are perfectly fine to use. While I like your rule I encourage you to also check you internal resistance.

Also if you think that inefficient wiring is the issue try either:

1) wire the PDB, motor controllers and the motors as close together as possible. Short wire means less resistance.

2) If your components have to be spread out but you can affored a little extra weight try using a wire size bigger than FIRST requires for the motor wire. Doing this will decrease the wire resistance allowing for better energy transfer.

3) Finally, one of the best ways to get the most out of your motors is to be using the top of the line motor controllers. The Talons will be more efficient than say a Victor 884.

While I wish I could offer more insight on to what happened to 624 in 2013 with their shifting, I believe that all that I could have said has already been spoken. So I leave you with these electrical tips that can help get the most out of your motors.