Mechanical tips for rookies

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Oh, and remember that while it is important to keep your batteries juiced, you may not have to charge them every match...

BAD ADVICE!
DANGER!

Bill,
I'm gonna come right out and say you're wrong.
You ALWAYS want to put the freshest battery you have on the robot. Brownouts/lowvoltage can KILL you at a critical moment in a match.

Every team should implement some kind of battery management system (ours is a senior named "Aaron"). Trust me, you don't want to die at that critical moment because your battery died.

Charge every match.
Charge constantly.
Keep multiple batteries on charge.

Also, be familiar with your chargers. The ones that take 8 hours to fully trickle charge a battery are NOT going to cut it during the heat of competition.

John