Hello,
I’ve been told that new yellow back-up battery is all we are allowed to use for the regionals. I want to know if that is true, but I have been searching for a place to buy them and I can’t seem to find anyplace. Ifirobotics only has the blue ones, and I am unsure which kind we are allowed to use. I went throught the manuals and didn’t see anything. I looked though CD and I didn’t find anything either. So I guess my question is are we allowed to use the blue back-up battery? And if not where can I purchase the yellow ones. I’m sorry if this is somewhere obvious, but I just can’t seem to find any information.
<R73> The 7.2V Robot Control backup battery must be connected to the Robot Controller as described in the Robot Controller manual. The 7.2v battery should be charged to at least 7.0v before entering a match. As a replacement for the FIRST supplied battery, any other commercially available 7.2V NiCad battery pack may be used.
So you can use any 7.2V NiCad battery including the blue one available for purchase from IFI.
You received a blue backup battery in your KOP. The intended purpose is so that you can use it on your robot.
Also:
<R73> The 7.2V Robot Control backup battery must be connected to the Robot Controller as described in the Robot Controller manual. The 7.2v battery should be charged to at least 7.0v before entering a match. As a replacement for the FIRST supplied battery, any other commercially available 7.2V NiCad battery pack may be used.
But!!! you must use the supplied charger in the Kit of Parts! None of you guys included that, so I thought I should. And yes, I do recommend getting a larger capacity battery, and using it the whole day, and charging it overnight at competition.
Now that I do not believe is true. It is completely true that you must use the supplied charger in the kit of parts for the main 12v battery, but you do not have to use the supplied charger for the backup battery so long as your backup battery charger is still safe. The reason being that the backup battery you might have may not have a compatible adaptor for the [supplied] charger, and it would be extremely silly to require you to create an adaptor to fit just for charging.
Your point is well taken but is not supported by exact interpretation of the rules.
<R56> The 7.2v backup battery may be charged on or off the ROBOT. When off the ROBOT, the battery is to be charged with the provided 7.2V backup battery charger.
This is one of the FIRST rules which is largely non-enforceable. I also agree that, from an engineering standpoint, there are many better solutions than the provided charger. This is particularly true of “smart” chargers which monitor the state of charge of the battery (they utilize an embedded microcontroller and look for the minus dv/dt “bump”) and adjust the charging current accordingly.
As it stands right now, few inspectors will walk the pits looking at your NiCad chargers. However, if pressed, they would have little choice than to quote <R56>.
I invite you to air your concerns on the FIRST Q&A. Only by airing these concerns to FIRST will we get the rules changed.
Danny,
Mike gave you the answer, I am afraid. The robot rules are very specific. I prefer to inspect robots in their pit as do many other inspectors. This prevents a pile up at the weighin and size stations and it gives us a chance to make students feel a little more comfortable. I like to check out the pit and see chargers, extra compressors and safety violations that may have been missed by the safety people. It’s all part of the full service.
Yeah, I understand why the rule is there, but now I have to run out and find one of those funky connectors for the charger so I can charge our COTS NiCad battery as well as the provided NiCad battery. The Q&A gave a definitive answer for me - after reading Mike’s response I knew what the answer would be, but I had to ask anyway.
<R54> The ES17-12 can only be charged between matches by a 6-ampere rated automatic battery
charger. When recharging the Kit Of Parts batteries, either the charger provided by FIRST or an automatic charger with an equivalent charging current rating may be used.
Just to clarify, not only are you limited to the 2007 charger for this year’s back-up battery, you’re limited to that charger for ALL your back-up batteries you use this year.
Yes, battery chargers from prior years would be illegal for charging the 2007 back-up battery.
Yes, the back-up battery (either the one supplied, or a permitted COTS back-up battery) must be charged with ONLY the 2007 charger or IFI-defined charger circuit, as specified in Rule .
You only need two backup batteries. One in the robot, and one on the charger. If you change the backup battery when you change the main battery, and keep the swapped out backup battery on the charger, you will never fall behind on the charge of the backup battery. Don’t leave the backup battery on the supplied KOP charger overnight. It will overheat it.
It is useful to use the 15 amp power pole connector on the backup battery. By using this connector on the battery, the robot, and on the charger, you will avoid problems with intermittent connections.
For those of you who don’t speak Klingon, that’s an expression of dismay. To put it mildly. The 2007 charger doesn’t indicate when the battery is fully charged, nor does it stop charging before the battery is overcharged. That settles it – we’re using the onboard charger. We’ll also be pulling the breaker supplying it when the robot is not in use.
Confused,
Can someone knowledgeable summarize this thread for me to help me understand the collective conclusion?
In addition I am a trite confused on the terms
battery, back-up battery (equivalent to 7.2V NI-Cad
pack or second 12V battery)?
This thread is addressing issues with the 7.2 V backup battery, not the 12 V main. The gist of it is that the AC “wall wart” charger included in the KOP can overcharge the backup battery if left on too long. The optional (build it yourself) on-board charger circuit is the only FIRST-approved alternative for charging these batteries.
Note that FIRST does allow the use of other 7.2 V NiCad batteries (such as listed in an earlier post, or the Vex robot battery), but not other chargers - even ones included in previous year’s KOP.
We’ll also be pulling the breaker supplying it when the robot is not in use
.
It is also best to disconnect the backup battery from the on-board charging circuit. Without an attached RC or connection on the 12V supply end the circuit still discharges through the charging circuit to ground. Granted we only measured 6-8ma, but why start off with a partially discharged battery. With supply side connected but without the main battery the discharge rate will be much higher (assuming things like victor fans, etc. are directly connected to breakers and not via spikes).