Batteries

[Scooperman]

Hello I am building a featherweight, 4 wheel drive (12v drill motors) and am wondering what type of battery to use.
Can anyone give me some good advice as to the best one for somebody starting out with featherweights - we have made a few antweights.

Thanks

[harry hills]

Re: Batteries

18v NiMH, round about 3000mah

[Scooperman]

Re: Batteries

Where do I get these from? I'd like to get them ready made up to use.

[harry hills]

Re: Batteries

try componant shop, they are pretty good
i use a 12v and a 6v to get 18v becuse i have a naff charger
if you ask them they would probably make you up an 18v pack at a little extra cost.

[Ellis]

Re: Batteries

I have two 18v drill packs in parallel to get 2.6ah. Dirt cheap, the original drill charger works, etc. A bit bodged but hey, they work!

[mattsdragons]

Re: Batteries

I used two 8.4v 3700mah packs I'm series to make up 17.2v which is close enough

[harry hills]

Re: Batteries

yay for maths
shouldn't that be 16.8v?

[psycho_fling]

Re: Batteries

And that's the normal battery voltage , you'd probably be getting 20v fully charged

[Scooperman]

Re: Batteries

Thanks for all the useful information. I am not very hot on electronics etc. so need to be led by the hand on this. Exactly what type of battery do I need, as there are a variety at the component shop (such as Nimh flight packs, large packs, medium power packs). Also, assuming I buy two batteries at 8.4v or whatever, how do I connect them together and then to the robot? I sort of understand parralel connection etc. Sorry for needing such basic info, but I don't want to spend the money and find that I've got it wrong (I have done that a few times already)

[Anttazz]

Re: Batteries

http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/large_packs.html that page, the batteries you're probably looking for are titled:

8.4V 3300mAh SC NiMH Battery Pack.

High capacity, fitted with standard €œTamiya€ style connector on
very flexible, high current leads - 35A discharge capacity!

£14.20 each.

If you want to use Deans connectors you can specify that too, save you having to do that yourself, and its free.

[mattsdragons]

Re: Batteries

yay for maths
shouldn't that be 16.8v?

:P

[Scooperman]

Re: Batteries

Thank you very much, just two more questions (I hope)

1. If I get batteries with dean's connectors do I just have to get a dean's connector linked to my charger to plug the battery in?
2. Do I connect the two batteries in series, i.e. one connected to the other and then to the robot or parallel i.e. both connected to the robot together? I hope I have got these the right way around, if not feel free to correct me.

[archie2000]

Re: Batteries

Urm take this from the person who is worst with batteries in the whole world
dont try this at home wait for an experienced roboteer to do this
You take the negative wire off one battery and join it to the positive off another battery
And the remaining plus and minus are the battery leads you use
Confusing but my sketch up model didnt work

[Scooperman]

Re: Batteries

That makes sense to me, but why not try it at home? am I likely to blow it up? It does not sound too complicated.

[harry hills]

Re: Batteries

he said that as he has blown up many batterys himself and so he was admitting you might want to follow other advice first.

i use this adapter to run 2 batterys to get a higher voltage
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad31 ... 001-33.jpg