Power Management Recommendation for driver stations

[Tanner]

Originally Posted by Damaku250

One of our team members has an uninterruptable power source: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...2224&CatId=234

Would we be able to use this on the field to power the laptop?

Not sure if you'd want to carry the heavy thing around, especially on the field where it could be dropped accidentally.

-Tanner

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Damaku250

One of our team members has an uninterruptable power source: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...2224&CatId=234

Would we be able to use this on the field to power the laptop?

As long as it is declared part of the operator console, fits on the shelf, and is safe, there are no rules prohibiting this.

[Vikesrock]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I definitely didn't see any power strips in the queuing area at the Midwest regional as Bill's Blog indicated there would be.

I know the announcer asked at the start of elims for any non-elim teams with charged Classmate batteries that they were willing to share to bring them over.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Craig,
That is an overkill and is very heavy.

[BrendanB]

Agree with Al, it is an overkill to have on the drivers station. However, since you do have it, I would recommend you put it on your cart and have run off of battery power during matches if there are 1. no power at stations for a tournament or 2. no smaller universal battery purchased by your team.

[Damaku250]

scratch that, we'll probably get one of the things from the link in sanddrag's signature and use a power inverter...

[Radical Pi]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

If you are using the PSoC board make sure to unplug it between matches, it's a real powerhog. At Chesapeake Regional, our Classmate was charged going into Elims. By SF 1-2 our Classmate battery was in the red and the PSoC was failing to connect (so we stopped using it). In SF 1-4 (a back to back match), the battery was very low and may have contributed to periodic network communication error. We would run for about 10sec then lose communication for about 2 sec (not sure the Classmate was the problem but since we didnt play a match afterward, it remains a possibility). Back in the pits the PSoc wouldn't work till I plugged the Classmate in. I couldn't reproduce the communication errors while tethered.

really? That would explain why we could only get about a 5% charge between matches. Will try disconnecting it during philly

[Chris Fultz]

AndyMark is carrying an inverter with an Anderson connector.

We are using one that is similar, and we keep the classmate plugged in to it while we are waiting in the que.

I do know of one team that borrowed it to keep their laptop plugged in during a match, because their battery was almost gone. It was allowed at their player station.

I have not seen outlets at the player station or nearby at KC or BMR.

[eugenebrooks]

We used a dc-dc laptop charger with an anderson connector on it
at SVR. The one problem we did have was that our 110 volt classmate
charger died on Friday, we would have been up a creek without the dc-dc
charger. We used it to charge the laptop overnight on Friday night,
putting a fresh battery on it when we left the pits at 6pm. We then
used it all day on Saturday. It worked out well for us.

The 20 volt, 3.7 amp charger with the 5.5mm-2.5mm plug at
www.powerstream.com is ED1075-52. RadioShack
has a very cheap universal one with lots of plugs and adjustable
voltage, but you will have to check the plugs it has for a proper
fit.

Eugene

[PAR_WIG1350]

How do the classmate ac-dc converters work? are they just rectifier diodes? Is there anything preventing them from being used as dc to dc converters? {such as issues with the rectifiers releasing 'magic smoke'}

[eugenebrooks]

We will have take our dead classmate charger apart to see what is
in there. Even if it is a switched supply that can run on dc, hacking
together a high voltage dc power supply is a really bad idea that our
UL safety inspectors should frown on. Spend $20 at radio shack for
a suitable 12 volt charger!

Eugene

Originally Posted by PAR_WIG1350

How do the classmate ac-dc converters work? are they just rectifier diodes? Is there anything preventing them from being used as dc to dc converters? {such as issues with the rectifiers releasing 'magic smoke'}

[CrazyCarl461]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

AndyMark is carrying an inverter with an Anderson connector.
...
I do know of one team that borrowed it to keep their laptop plugged in during a match, because their battery was almost gone. It was allowed at their player station.

461 is the team that had to borrow the inverter from AndyMark. We had the second match of the day and arrived to a completely dead classmate in our pit. It worked great and we bought it on the spot. Thanks Andy!

Get one for yourself

[JoshD]

Our guys went the inverter route, except they wired it up themselves and they stored the battery on the control board. It's crazy, but it works, we never had an issue with the Classmate, at least to my knowledge.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by eugenebrooks

We will have take our dead classmate charger apart to see what is
in there. Even if it is a switched supply that can run on dc, hacking
together a high voltage dc power supply is a really bad idea that our
UL safety inspectors should frown on. Spend $20 at radio shack for
a suitable 12 volt charger!

Eugene

Eugene,
I am betting that the cable is broken as it leaves the wall wart. I will be very interested in knowing the outcome.

[Rosiebotboss]

If you're coming to the NU CT regional, Rosie will be bringing our UPS's for use at the field drivers stations, if needed by teams. We did it at WPI and Kate (the FTA) thought is was a great idea!