Does anyone know where I can pick up a VTEC 5300 or equivalent battery from a reputable dealer in the United States?
How long will the Phoenix run on this?
BR you could use a 4700Mah NiMh pack 5 cell’s and build one yourself, that’s what I did.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3149/battery2ux2.jpg
and with my pack it runs about 45 minutes ish, don’t quote me on that as I have never charged it and just ran it until it was so wobbly it appeared drunk.
–Aaron
I saw that! 
I might just take the drop down gait select back out of the next version! 
I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing about batteries (good thing for this forum!). What I do know is my Phoenix lasts about 15 minutes and dies. Not enough time for any real testing. Also my battery is in the body of the robot so I can’t easily swap it out with another.
My second problem is I know nothing about electronics so a plug and play solution is preferable for me.
I’m curious how much run time a battery like this for $100 would get me.
rcmart.com/catalog/rc-batterylipo-79862-lipo-5300-competition-line-p-27745.html?cPath=52_973
This looks like a competitor to the LRP 5300.
2 things:
i) You’d probably get 50 minutes of run time, give or take
ii) For plug and play…Lipo is probably not the best battery as they are high-maintaince (I have personally destroyed 1) I say stick with NiMH.
I got my battery here:
onlybatterypacks.com/?cat1=18
It’s 4500 mAH NiMH sub-C, 11oz. Lasts about an hour on my bot…and its cheap. ($35)
Love it.
Specifically what is the Item Number that you ordered? Are you able to slide the pack in and out? I’d like to swap it with another that’s fully charged without taking everything apart. If not I’ll still take 50 minutes over 15.
Actually none of those packs will work, you need a 5 cell 6 volt pack, thats arranged like the 7 cell packs.
Mine is between the ssc32 and the bottom of the Phoenix plate.
This is an older photo of mine, but notice where the battery pack is
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/6702/pheonixon1vv0.jpg
If you have any soldering skills at all, I would buy some 2 inch heat shrink and buy tabbed SubC cell batteries and make a pack, it really isnt as hard as you think.
or you could find a way to power your phoenix with at least 6 volts and a couple amps would be enough current to keep it active while you code.
–Aaron
If you got a little creative, you could mount the ssc32 upside down and the bb2 on top of it right side up both underneath both plates and mount the battery on top — might not look as cool, but would be easy for you to take on and off the battery…
Thanks for the pic. I’ve been using a kleenex box to put mine on for testing. Still fighting a cold and discovered I could put the Phoenix on top of the box and still pull out a kleenex!
A little about my current soldering experience. I have Break Away Headers that I have to solder onto a WRL-00158 Bluetooth® Modem - BlueSMiRF. I’ve been looking at several videos on you tube about soldering. That’s the extent of my experience so far. Haven’t figured out what I should buy for a soldering gun yet either. My modem is going to be here in two days so I’m feeling the pressure. This will be my first attempt at soldering.
well…
for a soldering iron it helps if you spend a couple bucks on one with a decent tip and make sure when your done with it you wipe it off with a wet rag and it will last a while.
this is a 30 watt soldering iron.
as for making battery packs with substantial amounts of solder and metal like subC style tabs, you will need a 100 watt soldering iron the gun style ones… best thing to do is get some electronic crap to take apart and start soldering wires on stuff… I wouldn’t experiment on your blue smirf
add some heat shrink, thin and thicker solder and your good to go.
You can connect a power supply to the bot instead of the battery, leave the battery in the bot so its weight will be the same, but this would allow you to code for longer without messing with battery charging or swapping.
The place mentioned above does have Sub-C packs in the configuration that will fit inside the Phoenix body. You do not need to solder one from scratch.
I personally thin sub-C is too heavy for the Phoenix, but it appears that some are using them without issue. Just be aware that the servos can heat up if they are left in a state of holding significant weight for a long time.
Hey Jim,
Which pack was the one that fit in side?? Maybe I missed it.
–Aaron
wow -1 for me I missed that one…
I have an old PC that died several months ago that’s full of chips and boards just waiting to be soldered! Good advice. I thank you and my modem thanks you.
Ordered two with this style connector:
2x Tamiya Female (BATTERY SIDE)
Amperage Rating:15 Amps
Maximum Wire Size: 14awg
This is also the correct Airsoft large connector (battery side).
I was able to run 34 minutes on the battery.
I also purchased a 9 volt charger and some rechargable 9 volt batteries for powering the ssc32.
PowerEx 4-Position Battery Charger for 9.6V NiMH Batteries - MH-C490F-DC
batteriesplus.com/pc-35556-35556-MH-C490F-DC.aspx
PowerEx Paintball 9.6V NIMH Battery 1 Pack - MHR9V
batteriesplus.com/pc-35557-35557-MHR9V.aspx
Phoenix with 645 servos and ssc32 what is the max current that flows? Know this someone? In stand mode and in walk mode? For dimension a power supply.
Just saw this post. The data below is from my CH3 from late 2007. I gutted it to build my Phoenix. I’ll get data off the Phoenix soon. I use 2 A123 cells for my packs and run them without a regulator. Fully charged, they’re 3.7 v/cell versus 4.2v for lipo cells. Servos get warm but not hot.
I hit peaks as high as 11 amps in the past. They’re really just peaks that last only a fraction of a second, though. I suspect phoenix will be higher. We’ll see.