My team, Girls on Fire 5679, got counted off points in the pit cleanup at the end of the day for not having battery caps. We were wondering were you guys got
yours and where to get them? 
Thanks!!
You can get them from AndyMark or you can 3D print them.
The battery flag was designed to be an indicator the battery is charged and ready, not any kind of safety cover.
I would raise this one to the lead safety advisor; assuming terminals are insulated, I fail to see the need to go further isolating the batteryâs connections while in the pit.
[ducks and covers for safety advisor poopstorm to come]
I agree, the sb50 connector has isolated terminals to make it near impossible to unintentionally short the leads.
If you really want to get on a safety advisors âgoodâ side, just plug the batteries together. If everything is taped properly and wired correctly, you make a 24 v parallel circuit that has no output and no exposed contacts. The first time our electrical mentor did that one of the event staff almost passed out thinking the world was going to endâŚ
Thanks!! Both of these really helped! And I will have to talk with the safety advisers about that, especially if that happens again. We will be ordering some off of AndyMark
In all seriousness if you are really looking for a solution, the best option is an empty sb50 housing. They wonât snap in without the metal terminals installed, but they will add an extra, extra layer of protection and bring the housing up to IEC 60529 - Degrees of Protection Provided by Enclosures. That deals with dust and contaminants but is commonly viewed that if dust canât get in, neither can your fingers.
Now if we could just teach the safety inspectors about what Daisy chaining surge protectors really is about, and how itâs impossible NOT to do some daisy chaining when only 1 power wire comes into each teamâs pit. Iâm a little tired of getting marked down for it.
Also available are these.
Iâm just hoping they stop telling kids to wear gloves when using a bandsawâŚ
The terminals need to be insulated, but an SB-50 hole is small enough and the terminal is deep enough that it should not be an issue. I do NOT advise making a habit of plugging batteries together. As far as Iâm aware, itâs not a safety issue, but unless all of your batteries are of the same condition, youâre going to have the better one try to charge the lesser one until they have the same voltage charge, which may not be the same remaining capacity.
A big +1 on that - gloves are contra-indicated around high speed rotating and translating machinery.
We use a larger version of the SB connector on our forklift batteries. I have never heard of even the most serious safety wonks suggest a cap when the battery is not plugged in. While the SB connector is not idiot proof, it is well protected from shorts by something brushing up against it.
On connecting the batteries together. That works when the batteries are at approximately equal charge. When the charge states are not equal, you are essentially creating a high current battery charger. as the batteries equalize voltage. I wouldnât do it with a bunch of random batteries.
We had some dress-code related questions from a safety inspector at one of our regionals (ex: are shorts ok in the pit?). It wasnât a huge issue or anything, but it brought up that some of the safety standards being enforced werenât documented anywhere (and therefor not consistently enforced). We did end up speaking with the event organizers about it later on, which seemed to be the right course of action.
âSee something, say somethingâ is generally a good policy for safety stuff. Then again, I suppose at an extreme you devolve into chaos of everyone voicing their opinions, and nothing getting done. Still a better answer than âsafety thirdâ IMO.
We just put a piece of gaf tape over ours. The batteries have three possible states. Havenât gotten any grief about open terminals, but itâs easy enough to use two different colors.
- No tape = assume not charged
- On charger
- Taped = charged and ready for use
This seems like a great opportunity to take a look at the BattHawk - a product developed by FRC 1720 and sold by AndyMark: http://www.andymark.com/BattHawk-p/am-3824_4.htm
If youâre in the market to order some new battery flags, why not purchase some that will also show you the batteryâs voltage? No more confusion on which battery is the most charged prior to a match! Theyâre also handy to keep on a keyring during a competition for quick and easy battery voltage reads. No need to lug the voltmeter around or lose your teamâs only battery beak.