TriTrack power issue

Can you please post a picture showing how tight the tracks are? Will need more information in order to help you. No don’t sand anything. The kit should build perfectly. You may have made a mistake.

here’s the video of my robot with no load on it, RUNNING AT FULL THROTTLE (at 12V). as you can see, the tracks aren’t too tight - they look pretty much like the ones on the lynxmotion in-house robot.

youtube.com/watch?v=k2zLGtAhOK8

The problem you are having is shown in the first 5 seconds in your video. The little black plastic battery holders will not work!!!

One The wires are too small to carry the required current for the motors/motor controllers.

Two The little springs in the battery holder do not make a good connection and can not pass much current.

Look at any of our 4WD Rover or TriTrack tutorials and you will see big heavy duty wires. That’s why!!!

Thank you so much! However, it doesn’t say anywhere that battery holders won’t work and that I need a battery pack! :S Now I’m out of money, not able to buy a pack and charger, so I have to wait for my birthday… :S

Thanks anyways! :smiley:

No we don’t specifically mention you can’t use those cheap crappy battery holders. However, we do mention under “powering options” what battery packs are recommended for the chassis. :wink:

Powering Options
The robot is compatible with the following batteries and chargers.
Chargers & Accessories
> 6.0 - 12vdc Ni-CD & Ni-MH Universal Smart Charger (USC-02)
Batteries
> 12.0 Volt Ni-MH 1600mAh Battery Pack (BAT-01)
> 6.0 Volt Ni-MH 1600mAh Battery Pack (BAT-03)
> 6.0 Volt Ni-MH 2800mAh Battery Pack (BAT-05)

Yeah, good catch Jim. Wow. That’s a fire risk right there.

Just for your future reference roksraka - never use a wire gauge smaller than the gauge of the wire the manufacturer sent you. Ever.

Heavier gauge wire costs more, and the manufacturer is always looking to reduce costs. So they’re going to send you the minimum you need. The gauge of the wire on that switch is far far larger than what you have coming off the battery pack. Stranded wire will carry more current than solid wire.

Top-quality NiMH AA’s can source upwards of 30A and deliver 2800mAh. They might be passable depending on whether you’re using stock motors or not. Each 5A stall motor running from it’s own dedicated AA pack might be workable. Just make certain the batteries don’t heat up too much. You’ll shorten the life of the batteries at the least, and may cause them to explode.

You can never have too heavy a gauge wire. Use the heaviest that is reasonable, put always heavier than any manufacturer-delivered part.

In my case, I was using Tenergy competition sub-c NiMH 4800mAh batteries which have 10G wire coming from them. My delivery system used 10G to each of the motors and 6G to the motor controller. So my wire was overrated many fold. Power delivery wasn’t the concern.

Great job with that video. If only more people that have issues did what you did. :laughing:

Anyway, once you beef up the power structure, you’ll be ready to tear up the carpet!

hi all i have also same problem of power i cant rotate it if any one can find the solution please inform me.