RAD Robot Battery
Quincy Styke IV
autonomous robot as many other people are attempting. I wanted to know
if anyone could tell me what the A/H rating is on the battery that is
supposed to be used with RAD. Also, if anyone knows, about how long does
one charge keep him running? Thanks for your replies.
Quincy
Mike DeMetz
Quincy Styke IV wrote:
It is a Tyco 6.0V Jet Turbo pack, used in many of their toys. A nearby
surplus/return toy dealer was selling these at at swap
for $8 with charger. RAD's for $40.
Fred H. Ennenga
>I'm going to buy a RAD Robot pretty soon. I plan to convert it to an
>autonomous robot as many other people are attempting. I wanted to
know
>if anyone could tell me what the A/H rating is on the battery that is
>supposed to be used with RAD. Also, if anyone knows, about how long
does
>one charge keep him running? Thanks for your replies.
>
>Quincy
I bought a Radio Shack 23-228A 6V @ 600 mA battery for mine. I assume
the Tyco battery is also 0.6A/H. I haven't run mine for very long but
I can't imagine the charge lasting very long considering the power of
the motors. I'm considering using this battery just for the
electronics and adding a gel cell for the motors.
Fred
***************************
Fred Ennenga
My exercise program...
jumping to conclusions
***************************
Robert L. Doerr
pack I got was rated at 1200mah. Some of the TYCO ones were rated at only
600mah. The one I bought was the same form factor but it used NiMhd cells.
Checkout Toys'R'Us.
Robert
Marc Hills
The battery is a standard 7.2 v rechargable battery pack used in a variety
of R/C toys from Tyco, Nikko, etc. I don't recall what the Amp-hour rating
is, but a trip to Target, Toy's R Us or Walmart would quickly answer that
question. I ended up getting a NiMh pack from Tonka that is supposed to
have double the capacity. Whether or not that is true, I only get maybe 30
minutes of operation out of each charge. And a lot of that is time spent
thinking about what button/lever to operate next. I'd guess that if a RAD
is under microcontroller control, then those operator-induced pauses would
be eliminated and the operating time per charge would be considerably less.
Incidentally, the factor limiting the usable charge in the battery isn't the
voltage required to operate RAD's motors, it seems to be the voltage level
the R/C receiver needs to respond to signals from the R/C transmitter.
I think the general consensus among hobbyists is that the manufacturer's
recommended battery packs for RAD are inadequate. I've read posts
suggesting gel-cells or larger NiCad battery packs. Has anyone tried going
up to 9 volts? I've also noticed that there is a lot of room inside RAD's
base, behind the drive motors. It would be a fairly simple matter to
semi-permanently install a higher capacity (and physically larger) battery
pack and wire up a re-charging recepticle accessable on the outside. As a
bonus, a large battery in this position would lower RAD's center of gravity
and make him more stable.
If you haven't already bought a compatably toy R/C battery pack, I'd
recommend going straight to a higher capacity battery retrofit.
Marc
Quincy Styke IV
cost? Thanks.
Quincy
Robert L. Doerr wrote:
> I just bought one for my Nephew yesterday (Birthday present) and the
> battery
> pack I got was rated at 1200mah. .
>
> Robert
Dennis Clark
: What brand is it? Did you find it at Toys R Us? Also, how much did it
: cost? Thanks.
To get Decent NiCd batteries go to your local hobby shop and look for
RC car batteries. However, many of these ships are kinda expensive, so
go to http://www.towerhobbies.com and look for Electric cars/trucks,
batteries. The Trinity AmpMax 1400 7.2V packs are about $15. Now, you
want a charger. Those wall-wart shit boxes will ruin a battery in about
two months, look at the battery charger section at Tower and find a "Peak"
charger that you can afford, do NOT buy a timer charger, they aren't much
better than a wall-wart. The combo of battery and charge will prolly set
you back about $50. But it will last forever. (Not on one charge dummy!)
have fun,
DLC
--
============================================================================
* Dennis Clark Aristocrat at heart d...@verinet.com www.verinet.com/~dlc *
* Be well, do good work, and stay in touch -- Garrison Keillor *
============================================================================
Quincy Styke IV
> The recomended battery is 6V. The one sold by the manufr. is a 6V
> 750mA pack.
> We ran ours non-stop for about 40 minutes before it gave out. I have
> since
> installed a 6V 4Ah gel cell in the base behind the gear boxes.
Where did you acquire this gel-cell? The only ones I can find are huge
(>10 lbs.). Thanks.
Quincy
--
"Be true to the dreams of thy youth."
- Herman Melville
side...@mindspring.com
We ran ours non-stop for about 40 minutes before it gave out. I have since
on for 12 hours and played with him for about 5 of those while on the new
battery.
The problem with the radio at low charge seems to be this: The bot is at rest
and gets a comand to move. The motors start and in doing so place a great draw
on the already low batteries. This drop is enough to break the radio link with
the controller. Since the bot is no longer "hearing" the remote, it is no
longer getting the command to move, so the motors stop. This allows the radio
recvr. to get the power it needs to function and the command to move is again
seen which starts the whole thing over again. That is why it seems to stutter.
If you want to continue to use the toy "as is" I would think again about using
a 9V supply I didn't look very close but I don't recall a voltage controller on
the board. This could fry the pics if you don't add your own. Besides, adding
more voltage to the mix doesn't increase the amount of run time. Only
increasing the current capacity can do that.
"Hey! What do ya know....It's written right there, "Breach hull : All die." I
even had it underlined..hu hu....what do you know............"
side...@mindspring.com
seen these in their catalog but I have a store fairly close. These are the
same kind used in exit lights to keep them going after power goes out.
These are made by Panasonic..LCR6V4BP .. also on the case is Matsushita
Electric ....good luck....
Quincy Styke IV wrote:
> side...@mindspring.com wrote:
>
> > The recomended battery is 6V. The one sold by the manufr. is a 6V
> > 750mA pack.
> > We ran ours non-stop for about 40 minutes before it gave out. I have
> > since
> > installed a 6V 4Ah gel cell in the base behind the gear boxes.
>
kincaid...@gmail.com
this may be a bit odd, but I recently came across this website:
http://www.hero-1.com/Broadband/News_Group/Genaral/available_manuals.htm
I am working on a TV show in the set decoration department, and am currently doing research on "Mail Robots" or robots specifically made in the early 80's.
I am looking for the schematics and saw on the link above that you used to have them...? If you still do is there any way you could send them to me?
Thanks so much!
Helena
On Sunday, May 2, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Fred H. Ennenga wrote:
> Quincy Styke IV wrote in message <372BD5F7...@Nashville.com>...
> >autonomous robot as many other people are attempting. I wanted to
> know
> >if anyone could tell me what the A/H rating is on the battery that is
> >supposed to be used with RAD. Also, if anyone knows, about how long
> does
> >one charge keep him running? Thanks for your replies.
> >
> >Quincy
>
>
Jürgen Exner
in comp.robotics.misc:
>Hi Fred!
>
>this may be a bit odd, but I recently came across this website:
>On Sunday, May 2, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Fred H. Ennenga wrote:
Top-posting, full-quote, no line breaks, and replying to a 15 year old
posting: obviously a googliot is showing his best again.
jue