One of my students sent me pictures of the Flying Toasters’ batteries. I absolutely love their cable clips and terminal covers! Any chance someone from 3641 would be willing to share links so we can follow their lead?
I’m curious about those terminal covers as well.
For the clips, the original post I think was here:
Jim’s post was actually a response to a post that referred to some lug protectors from Remy Battery.
Some of these look pretty close:
https://remybattery.com/search/angle%20lug%20protector
Here’s a closer view of the cover to battery area. Sorry about the low res…
A little longer on the bottom might be nice, but not having to tape like mad would be even nicer… Plus, you can just lift it up and check the nut!
This -might- be it: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BL4S5YJ
We currently use these covers. It is very difficult to find a good 90 degree boot that fully covers the terminal assy and has the cable entry at the right “height” from the base of the terminal.
We use Ferrules Direct LBF410 - 90 Degree Long Barrel Compression Lug - 4AWG - #10 Studs on the cable, and we add a piece of tygon tubing (3/4"? dia x 3/4" long) over the terminal to bridge any exposed gap at the bottom. I need to dig a bit to find a good picture. What is also nice about this setup is that you can peel back the cover and check the hardware tightness periodically.
Much cheaper and more plastic clips with integral zip tie. I’ve ordered some to try out: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P6ZIEFM
Some additional battery “dressing” things:
We found that the metal clips + zip-ties along the length of the pig-tail greatly reduce the strain on both the battery terminals AND SB50 terminals. It makes the cable routing so much cleaner and consistent both on the robot and the charging cart. We also put a “DO NOT LIFT BY CABLES” sticker on each battery as a constant reminder.
Of course I don’t have any good pictures of our newest batteries, but I found some of our '18 (blue), '19 (red), and '20 (green) batteries. Oh yeah, change the color your labels every year too!
We have always gotten good reviews for our method of battery preparation, even to the point where RIs will bring other teams over to our pit to show them how to do it.
This is an awesome thread. Thanks guys. I’ll be copying some of these techniques next season.
OK, found a cheaper option for anchoring the cables to the battery edge! Much less than $1-2 each
Hellermann Tyton T50REC5A
Pushes on the edge just like the steel one, but its got an integral zip tie and its a plastic housing around the chompy bits. Yes, I squashed one on a battery to be sure… Sorry, no picture
Where did you purchase those cable tie/clips from? Do they hold up when someone picks up the battery by the cable?
Scored a sack off fleabay.
No testing yet
You never pick up the battery by the cable. You don’t touch a battery on our team unless you understand that.
This might be a dumb question but how do you guys get the wires to go towards the center of the battery? Are there 90 degree ring terminals that you use or do you just bend the ring terminals at the ends of the wire? Does that add a possible break point because of the bend?
Yes. I know that one is not supposed to pick up a battery by the cable. I am asking because people will do it and I am interested in how those cable ties with clips hold up to that abuse.
Have you sourced them under $5/lug anywhere? That’s where I often struggle.
Bending straight lugs is very easy to do wrong and introduce cracking.