Our robot this year required some interesting battery positioning, entailing having all of our batteries to have wires facing “out” away from the battery instead of straight up above the battery.
However, with the connectors positioned this way, heat shrink doesn’t really do the job for covering the entire connector. For teams that have run batteries this way in the past, how do you recommend insulating the battery leads and lug connectors?
We’ve done it a couple times. Use vinyl electrical tape. Do it cleanly and carefully, in at least two layers, and check the leads coming both on and off the robot.
If you see damage, fix it before your next match, especially if you only have a couple batteries.
We bring 10-12 batteries to competition, so it’s no big deal to quarantine one until a student can fix it when the robot is in queue.
We use shrink up to the point it won’t work, and then we use liquid electrical tape for the rest of the bits. Usually two layers, and it works incredibly well.
How easy is it to remove that stuff?
We use battery terminal cover rubber right angle insulating boots.
Similar to these from a quick search, available at battery stores: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10PCS-Black-Red-Battery-Terminal-Boot-Round-Rubber-Insulating-Cover-Tool-20x12MM/32831095531.html
Not as difficult as you might think. Once you get a little pull somewhere, a pair of needle nose pliers can do a good job pulling it off. We use it on the ends of our 775s as well. If it’s really obstinate, a heat gun will soften it up enough to get a hold of it.
Use the good stuff from 3M, Scotch brand. The cheap stuff from Harbor Freight, and other sources, doesn’t stick well and, ironically, can leave behind a layer of adhesive.
This is also an option if you have a 3d printer:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:675138
Ive never used them but they look quite clean.
If you want to use heatshrink, just cut a slit down one side and then push the heatshrink around the terminal with the slit on the bottom. Hold the open end of the tubing with a long nose pliers and heat the tubing. Do not remove the long nose until the tubing has cooled. The combination of the heat and shrink shape after cooling should give you a pretty good insulated terminal. You could also fold the end of the tubing before crimping it with the long nose.