battery life?

[trey3670 offline]

how long do you get from the stock battery?
I got about 5 mins or so,and have suspicions that mine was faulty.

I since have gone to my lhs and poked around and found a 6v 600mah that gives me about 10 mins,albeit with limited strength.

[jaybirdtke offline]

After 5 minutes he has trouble getting up from being face down, After 10 minutes he has trouble walking. I've resorted to just leaving him connected to the charger while in use.

[jaybirdtke offline]

After test driving a robonova on RobotServicesGroup.com, I now know what run time is. They let me control a stock robonova for about 25 minutes and it ran strong the whole time and showed no signs of slowing.
Don't get me wrong, I love my RoboPhilo, but the runtime on it's battery is pitiful.

[trey3670 offline]

im gonna do it tomorrow

[trey3670 offline]

battery breakthrough! well I think so anyway. I ordered a robonova battery,23.99$ shipped, and I now have 25-30 mins of run time!
dowside is the battery doesnt fit in the socket and he is off balance somewhat by sticking it on his chest.
goodnews is that to get battery to fit all I need to do ismodify the holder a lil bit!

[jaybirdtke offline]

Nice find. There may be hope for RoboPhilo after all. What did you pay for it?

[trey3670 offline]

19.99 for the batt,how are futaba servos working?

[jaybirdtke offline]

The servos are working great. I am still trying to choose which servo I should use to upgrade the hips, and eventually upgrade the futaba S3003's in the shoulders to something with more torque. I am leaning toward one of the Tower Hobbies Digital servos.
Now that you have been able to upgrade the battery I feel much more compfortable investing some more money into this robot.
Keep us updated on how you fabricate a new mount for the larger battery.

[jaybirdtke offline]

I wonder if changing the cell configuration in the pack will help.
I found 1400mAh 2/3A cells for US$1.79 each x 5 = US$8.95 add the cost of the battery tabs, connector, and wrap and there you go. They're the same length but a little wider.
http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp?Pa ... rodID=1776
Or 1500mAh 2/3A cells for US$3.25 each, cheapbatterypacks.com
will even assemble it for you for a grand total of US$16.25 less shipping.

[trey3670 offline]

stupid qeustion maybe,but what voltage are they? we dont want to go above 7volts

[jaybirdtke offline]

volts are calculated by the number of cells.
1 cell = 1.2 volts
5 cells = 6 volts
I would have a battery assembled in the same configuration as the stock battery with the same number of cells (5).

[Baccman offline]

I am trying to fit a reciever pack from my savage monster truck, it's a 5-cell 1000mah I have it in there, I think. I'll keep you posted

[Baccman offline]

It fits!!! I have actually replaced it with a new 1600mah pack with the same configuration, it's a savage style hump pack. Run time goes waaay up, ssems to have alittle more power too

Here is a pic of my work, be patient it is large.

http://robosavvy.com/Builders/Baccman/P1000094.JPG

[jaybirdtke offline]

Nice... Looks like a tight fit. Are those 2/3A cells?
I can barely fit the 2/3AA cells in his chest with the cells horizontal, the way you've installed yours and the 2/3A cells are a bit longer.
---------------
Cell Size: 2/3AA
Chemistry: NIMH
Capacity: 700mah
Length: 1.12in. 28.45mm
Diameter: 0.55in. 13.97mm
Weight: 0.49oz. 13.88gm
---------------
Cell Size: 2/3A
Chemistry: NIMH
Capacity: 1500mah
Length: 1.13in. 28.70mm
Diameter: 0.66in. 16.76mm
Weight: 0.81oz. 22.95gm

[Baccman offline]

Yes, I believe they are 2/3a cells. They seem to be slightly shorter than the cells in the original pack. I went to my LHS and got a second pack that was 1600mah, and that fit too. All I had to do is add the zip tie to hold it in. It is just an off the shelf pack, nothing special about it really.