How many batteries do you take to competitions?

[Foster]

How many batteries do you take to competitions? I was just at the Philadephia regional and made an effort to go an look at pits to see what they have. On average teams have 5 batteries and 2-3 chargers to keep them going. We were on the high end with 10 and three chargers.

[Rick TYler]

All of them!

(Our FTC program has three teams. We have eight chargers and about 20 batteries, including the 9.6v transmitter batteries.)

[Sean Schuff]

We have a custom designed/built battery station that manages the charges on 15 batteries. We have been known to loan out our batteries to teams in need and have gone so far as to provide space in our station to teams who can't bring more than a couple batteries to the event.

Sean

[Cow Bell Solo]

We had 4 main batteries this year, last year only 2. We have two chargers and always had two batteries on the chargers at all times. This is what is nice about being a Second year team. We also have 3 backup batteries(since I kindof lost this years but found it after we ordered a new one that was with me at all the robot meetings) and two chargers, so two were being charged while one was one the robot.

[Woody1458]

We bring 5 white (legal) batterys and 3 gray (old) batteries. The old ones are for in pit tests, and precharge of pneumatics. I marked 5-7

[Cow Bell Solo]

Originally Posted by Sean Schuff

We have a custom designed/built battery station that manages the charges on 15 batteries. We have been known to loan out our batteries to teams in need and have gone so far as to provide space in our station to teams who can't bring more than a couple batteries to the event.

Sean

Do you have any pictures of this station?

[Josh Murphy]

We take 15 competition legal batteries and 2 non compettition legal batteries. We have six chargers on a cart and we charge them all on practice day, then cycle them on and off throughout the day on friday and saturday. That way come Elimination time we have a full compliment of batteries.

[DGrohnke1023]

1023 took 5 legal batteries and 3 old batteries to GLR. We use 4 of the old-style chargers for our new batteries and use this years charger for our cart and crossbucks batteries.

Warning to ALL Teams:
We had a batteries from 2007 go bad on us and refuse to hold a charge. The charger light was green but when we started the match the bot wouldn't move. A voltage check showed 10 volts. The battery was recharged and still only held 10 volts. We now check battery voltage before we leave the pit and after we turn the bot on down on the field. Batteries can go bad!

[gwatton]

This year we took 4 legal batteries for field use and two or three old practice batteries. We barely made it by with just the four at Las Vegas this weekend. We had to borrow a few for the elimination rounds. We try to take four chargers as well. We are definetly going to get some more for next year.

We also had a problem with batteries going bad. They seemed to work fine beforehand, but once we got on the field they died almost immediatly. The only way to prevent this is to run them in practice or old robots before competition.

[smurfgirl]

We've usually got at least 6/7 legal batteries in circulation for matches, with other "illegal" batteries for practicing so that the competition batteries can charge. We also bring at least 6 chargers to match.

In the past, we've lent out batteries to other teams when they were in need.

[Chris Marra]

This year we brought 4 old chargers and 4 legal batteries to UTC, but somehow misplaced one of them during qualifications and it was never returned. We also brought 2 old batteries and the new charger for our scissor lift and testing.

Although this year we had enough chargers to keep everything on all the time, we still ran them through a battery efficiency tester to rank them, and then named them. Homer, Barney, Bart, Mo, and Carl if I recall correctly.

[roborat]

we take 6 and have 4 chargers along with about 6-8 back up batteries. Rotate the out each match and keep them charged.

[DayZiro]

Originally Posted by Sean Schuff

We have a custom designed/built battery station that manages the charges on 15 batteries. We have been known to loan out our batteries to teams in need and have gone so far as to provide space in our station to teams who can't bring more than a couple batteries to the event.

Sean

Team 93's setup was enough to turn even Green Machine Green with envy.

Thanks for letting us use a couple of your batteries, especially during the end there.

See you in Atlanta!

[Lil' Lavery]

Someone ask 381 how many batteries they use. I don't want to steal their thunder, but you won't believe the answer.


And another vote for the amazing-ness of 93s system. There's no way we would have been able to get through all the elimination rounds on Galileo last year without it. It's a sight to behold, and works like a charm.

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Someone ask 381 how many batteries they use. I don't want to steal their thunder, but you won't believe the answer.

I bet they don't even need to use the batteries - they run off of magic!