7.2V NiCd Battery Substitute

[Dave K.]

Additional information that may be helpful are the correct part numbers for mating with the existing NiCd battery connectors.

These are Tyco Electronics (AMP), Mate-N-Lok series connectors.

1-480318-0, Housing Plug
1-480319-0, Housing Receptacle,
60618-1, Pin Male, 18-24AWG
60617-1, Pin Female, 18-24AWG

These are stocked by Mouser, Digikey, and others. Pricing depends upon quantity purchased. Mouser currently has each of the part numbers priced at 13 cents each in quantity one.

The "Plug" and Female pins are used ON the supplied battery.

The "Receptacle" and Male pins are used ON the robot controller side.

The Tamiya connector holds the pins in place better and the connectors just click together without a problem. The Mate-N-Lok connectors always seem to take a bit of wiggling to get the pins aligned. When in a hurry, I've even had the pins pop out of the back of the connector as I tried to mate them.

Given a choice of the Mate-N-Lok or Tamiya connector, I would standardize on the Tamiya, and make a Tamiya to Mate-N-Lok adapter so that the battery could be charged with an unmodified plug in charger.