Dead battery!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by krhs_programmer

Sorry about the lack of info. i didn't have much time before. But the neg. (-) terminal on the battery was exposed and the battery was held in the robot by the latex tubing and it could slide. Today when i came in the battery had a charge put back on it and when i put the volt meter on it i watched the voltage rapidly drop. Also we put a good battery in saturday and it was fine. And it would be much appreciated if you could show me how to program that rampPWM you were talking about.

I am guessing that when the robot took a hit, the negative terminal made contact with the robot frame. I expect that an inspection (with VOM) will show that the positive lead is in contact with the frame, probably at the output of the main circuit breaker. When the battery slid against the frame, a circuit was formed through the frame, battery, main breaker and associated wiring. This kind of abuse can result in the internal plates of the battery warping and the result is there is an internal short. When the battery was put on the charger, it may have taken longer than normal to show full charge (or it never achieved full charge) and would have been much warmer than other batteries while charging. You should also check that the battery connector has not so badly deformed from the original heat that the contacts are now touching. If you are sure all of the wiring on the battery is correct and there are no sneak paths for the current, then the battery is a candidate for recycling.
Check the wiring on the robot for contact with the frame, correct what you find and always insulate both battery terminals at all times.