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]

18v NiMH, round about 3000mah

[Scooperman]

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

[harry hills]

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]

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]

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

[harry hills]

yay for maths
shouldn't that be 16.8v?

[psycho_fling]

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

[Scooperman]

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]

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.