Battery charging carts?

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by Rosiebotboss

Paragon, Team 571 has a paper posted in the white papers section for building one. We're building one based on it.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1530 This is the paper that Dana spoke of

Originally Posted by Captain Slacker

I won't be at the site until Monday, but I will get a picture of the 571 one and post it here if another member doesn't already

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/18664
This is a Picture of it from Championships in 2004

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

1714's had one since 2007. We got help from Rockwell Automation on the project; I believe they donated a lot of the parts including the touch screen. If you guys send our head mentor an email, he can get you more information than I am. Since you guys are also a Rockwell Automation team, you can probably get the same amount of help we did.

Did your team attend Buckeye in the last 4 years? I remember seeing a really sweet battery charger, and the team was sponsored by Rockwell Automation? If that was you, major props to an awesome charging system!

[sparrowkc]

I currently have a vague aspiration to design a multi-battery battery charger from scratch. I figure I could learn about power, maybe figure out switching power supplies or something... I need to figure out how complex the logic for a fast-charge is, and if it's even safe enough for me to attempt.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

Here is ours.

Our team has something very similar only it holds three batteries and three chargers allowing it to be small enough to fit on our shelves in the pits and light enough for one person to carry.

My advice, smaller is better in the pits, but make it usable for other purposes such as storage when in the pits.

[Akash Rastogi]

1714 has a very cool system. Pictures from Pat Fairbank:

http://picasaweb.google.com/patfair/...86435073315410

[Durza16]

Thank you for all the ideas!

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by synth3tk

Did your team attend Buckeye in the last 4 years? I remember seeing a really sweet battery charger, and the team was sponsored by Rockwell Automation? If that was you, major props to an awesome charging system!

We had the charger at Buckeye in 07 and 08, so thanks for the compliments.

[kramarczyk]

I've got some battery cart pics available at http://picasaweb.google.com/Mark.Kra...tBenchmarking#

It includes shots of 33, 469, 47, 1720 & 217.

[Zme]

we (2619) have a decent one, welded aluminum with casters and removable handle, 2 tiered design, low profile so it can fit under tables at competition. has enough chargers that it can charge (and keep charged) i want to say 6 batteries. has a single bar that goes over all of the batteries that keeps them in place for transport. i'll see if i can find pictures, or another team might have them a fair amount of people were taking pictures.

a question for Greg Needel:
we use similar (if not the same) chargers, and noticed that they put out a bit more than 6 amps on the 6 amp charge, did you notice this? and if so how did you correct it?

our electrical team ended up building current limiting circuits to bring the current down into legal range for competition but i'm curious as to how other teams handled it.

[Jon Stratis]

2177 built one last summer, and it worked great for us this year. The best picture of it i have access to at the moment is here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/34968

You can see it in the back right. Some benefits to this design:

- 4 chargers are fully wired and enclosed in the back
- 2 drill battery chargers are mounted on the front, easily accessible
- The status and control board for the chargers was routed to the front and put behind plexiglass below each station, allowing quick identification of charged batteries.
- 3 of the large KOP fans are included to provide sufficient airflow for the chargers (We finally used them for something!)
- It's mounted on heavy duty wheels - two fixed and two lockable casters - which allow it to easily traverse parking lots and bumps.
- It's sized to fit through a standard doorway
- It has an integrated power strip on the side, providing all the aux. power we need in the pits
- It has an integrated extension cord (25 feet, i think), with a mounted wrap to secure it when in transport
- It has an integrated on/off switch, which cuts power to the entire cart
- Half of it can be used for materials and parts storage at competition (and for transporting anything else heavy)
- It has a heavy duty surface (an old butchers block) that's big enough to work on and sturdy enough to wail on when needed, and at a great height for working on
- It has built in mounts to allow a vise to be secured
- It's sized to easily fit in the compartment under a standard coach bus, when tipped on its back

In short, it's much more than a battery cart. It's an all around competition cart, bigger than most of the charging stations listed here, but capable of being utilized for much, much more. The only problem we've had is in loading and unloading it - it took 4 adult mentors to get it on and off a truck, and we were straining a bit.


If you want some better pictures of it, PM me and i'll get them to you

[mrmummert]

Hi...

We made a new cart this year...As many know batteries are heavy and there is
often very little pit space for extra items. With that in mind we built this new cart. I'll try to post a picture later.

[DiehardCybercard]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

1714's had one since 2007. We got help from Rockwell Automation on the project; I believe they donated a lot of the parts including the touch screen. If you guys send our head mentor an email, he can get you more information than I am. Since you guys are also a Rockwell Automation team, you can probably get the same amount of help we did.

you guys have the worlds most amazing charging station. its aaaaawesome!

[buildmaster5000]

I'm simply curious, but where do you get the Anderson Power Connector to go on the charger? I can find the one for the battery at AM, but I have yet to see the one for the charger yet

Thanks!

[ATannahill]

You can purchase them here or buy the ones from andymark and solder them to your battery charger.

[mrmummert]

here are some pictures of 1610's new cart. It can be pulled either like a luggage cart or like a wagon. It uses a old razor scooter handle and wheels (under the back) and caster wheels in the front. It holds four batteries and chargers, but in the little storage area in the back two more chargers can be plugged in. There is a 8 receptical surge protector in the storage space in the back. There is also room on top in the middle for our cordless drill battery chargers and other little pockets for older robot back -up batteries, tape, zip tyes, andersome connector covers, etc. It measures about 20x 20x 20 the best I remember.You will also notice some folddown handles. This makes it easier when we have to carry it on and off the bus.