7,4 V

[bauermech]

By the description (and price) it appears to be just a linear regulator. If so it is very inefficient and the regulator dissipates the excess power as heat.

Yup, you're right. Not the best solution, but like you ~said, it's an inexpensive work-around. The heat-sink is mounted to one of the aluminum plates in his rear. I plan on eventually upgrading to a more efficient and fail-safe method of controlling the output and protecting from over-discharge ... I mean, these robots (and Li-Po's) aren't cheap. I can totally justify the extra expense to protect them right. Unfortunately, time has not been on my side, and went with what I could get a hold of w/o taking the lengths to extensively research the possibilities beforehand.

If you over discharge a LiPo pack even slightly one time it will never be able to deliver a good charge again so it is critical to have a good automatic cutoff.
Here's a good LiPo discussion http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187

Thanks for the link subpilot. That puts 'em in better perspective.... respectful

I think I'll be bumping up the regulator & cut-off issues on my 'ol priority list. Thanks!