$50 robot Battery - please help

[Metal Slug 2]

Hey, I'm completely new to robotics yet completely fascinated by them.  i came across this website via a google search 5 days ago.
i found the $50 robot tutorial and read alot of other forum posts/tutorials.  i filled up my shopping cart(s) from the different websites which were given to where i should get the parts. everything is/was good until the battery.
The recommended battery in the $50 robot is a 6v, 1400mah NiMH battery pack from onlybatterypacks.com selling for $16.50.  this battery had a product code of 10403.
however, when i searched the site for this battery it came up as a 6v, 1700mah NiMH battery pack with a price of $22.50

I couldn't find any battery that matched the description given in the tutorial.  not a problem though. i just decided to get the $22.50 battery.

when i went to checkout, under the item description/quantity/name etc. there was also a section for "connectors".  now for the question(s):

1.)  Do I have to choose a specific connector, if yes which one? or does the battery already come with a default connector?

2.)  How do i recharge the battery?  Do i have to buy a separate charger?

3.)  i never actually bought the battery because the shipping costs came to $25.00!!!!!!!  therefore the total battery cost would be ~$50 which is supposed to be the cost for the whole robot! bah!  and there was only one shipping option.  is there any way to get cheaper shipping?

Thanks for your help.

sorry if these question are noobish.

[ArcMan]

Yes.  You need a charger for the battery pack.  Search for NiMH battery chargers.  The constant-current chargers are really cheap.
Yes.  There is a way to get cheaper shipping.  Shop somewhere else.  Google for NiMH battery packs.  There's a bunch of them out there.  Sometimes it's hard to find exactly what you want, which is why I started making my own packs using tabbed NiMH cells.  You probably don't want to try that yet, but eventually...

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Futaba J Connector or JST would be your best pick for a connector. Google Image search those to see what they look like.

the mAh rating just tells you how much current it can deliver for one full hour before it loses power. 1700mAh battery could supply 1700mA(1.7A) for 1 hour before losing power. Or, it could supply 850mA for 2 hours or 3400mA for thirty minutes. And so on and so forth. The higher the better because the higher it is, the longer it can run whatever your doing before needing a recharge. The most important part(but not the ONLY important part) is the voltage rating.

As for shipping, what a lot of companies do is charge a certain amount for shipping if an order is under a certain amount. After your order reaches a certain cost, the shipping gets a lot more reasonable. Im not sure if OBP.com does that. Its been a while since I ordered my battery from them ... which BTW the battery is still kickin'. Ill definitely be buying from them again in the future.... I also remember them packing a little Smarties thing in with the battery lol... That woulda been cooler if Smarties didnt make me nauseous every time I ate them..... No one better make a joke out of that lol

[sdavis6736]

Check this site out for batteries.  They have reasonable shipping rates.  http://www.all-battery.com/6vnimhbatterypackseries.aspx

[Metal Slug 2]

Futaba J Connector or JST would be your best pick for a connector.

Thanks for your help.  Would the Futaba J connector work with the "(breakaway) male header pins" for the battery connector on the $50 robot?
just to make sure: the battery connector has to be a "female" connector to fit onto the "male" header pins right?

Yes.  You need a charger for the battery pack.  Search for NiMH battery chargers.  The constant-current chargers are really cheap.

i looked for a battery charger on onlybatterypacks.com and found this $6 charger: http://www.onlybatterypacks.com/showitem.asp?ItemID=10031.12   would this charger work?
one more noobish question (sorry) : if i buy a battery with a Futaba J connector will i have to order a charger with a Futaba J connector as well?
Thanks.

[ArcMan]

That charger will work fine.  It will charge your 1700 mAh pack in about 18 hours.
I wouldn't use a Futaba J connector for a battery.  That's a servo connector.  If your battery has a Futaba J, I would cut it off and put on a Kyosho connector that mates with that battery charger.  That's my opinion.  Others may have a different opinion.

[VOne]

Or just go to your local Remote Control Hobby store, they will have many different types of batteries and chargers and, of course, no shipping.  I got a 7.2 Volt 3000maH battery for $28 CAD, and a nice 1,2, or 4 Amp selectable charger for 20.  They should also have all of the different conectors.

If you do have to attach a new connector to your battery I highly suggested getting some "helping hands" alligator clips, as Admin mentions in one of the tutorials, for soldering wires together:
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Misc_Tools&product=6402063
Those are from The Source in canada, which is our Radio Shack since they got bought out ... Anyway, I made a huge mess out of my battery wires before getting this and some nice heat shrink wrapping.

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

the battery connector has to be a "female" connector to fit onto the "male" header pins right?

Nope. It sounds logical but its incorrect lol. I made the same mistake and had to cut my connector off and ghetto rig a male plug on.
A female Futaba plug is basically a sheath that fits over the male plug and inside the female plug are 2 pins that come down an enter the male plugs contacts.
So basically what you need is the Male Futaba J conenctor. It will fit perfectly on the $50 robots pin headers


Hope this helped!

-Dragon

[Metal Slug 2]

That charger will work fine.  It will charge your 1700 mAh pack in about 18 hours.
I wouldn't use a Futaba J connector for a battery.  That's a servo connector.  If your battery has a Futaba J, I would cut it off and put on a Kyosho connector that mates with that battery charger.  That's my opinion.

Thanks    ( wow that's a slow charger )

Or just go to your local Remote Control Hobby store, they will have many different types of batteries and chargers and, of course, no shipping.  I got a 7.2 Volt 3000maH battery for $28 CAD, and a nice 1,2, or 4 Amp selectable charger for 20.  They should also have all of the different conectors.

Awsome, Thanks.

If you do have to attach a new connector to your battery I highly suggested getting some "helping hands" alligator clips, as Admin mentions in one of the tutorials, for soldering wires together:
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Misc_Tools&product=6402063
Those are from The Source in canada, which is our Radio Shack since they got bought out ... Anyway, I made a huge mess out of my battery wires before getting this and some nice heat shrink wrapping.

OOOoooOOooOoOoo......Shiny    Thanks again, before i would usually just use a piece of wood, laying the wires down and soldering. These helping hands would come in handy. AND lucky for me I'm Canadian and live only a 20 min bike ride away from "the source"...eh.

the battery connector has to be a "female" connector to fit onto the "male" header pins right?

Nope. It sounds logical but its incorrect lol. I made the same mistake and had to cut my connector off and ghetto rig a male plug on.
A female Futaba plug is basically a sheath that fits over the male plug and inside the female plug are 2 pins that come down an enter the male plugs contacts.
So basically what you need is the Male Futaba J conenctor. It will fit perfectly on the $50 robots pin headers

Hope this helped! <-- Yes, Thank you.

-Dragon

wow, thanks for the heads-up.

One more thing:  Thanks to everyone who just helped me.  You definitely saved me some money and made my life easier. 

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

These helping hands would come in handy. AND lucky for me I'm Canadian and live only a 20 min bike ride away from "the source"...eh.

Get them! I got them a little while ago and they sure do come in handy! I wish I had 2 of them lol


I was also messing around with optics and fried the surface in the middle of one of my magnifying glasses using the magnifying glass on the helping hands thing haha. So now theres a spot dead center on the other magnifying glass about 5mm in diameter that I cant see through. So annoying! lol

[Metal Slug 2]

LOLz, bad luck. oh well.
Guess what!  Theres a blowout clearance sale at the source its "in-store" only though... i wish i was on their email list so i could have known earlier, they sold out of some very nice breadboards (original $30 - on sale for $10).  The "helping hands" are not on sale but there selling for only $16.99 CAD if you wanna get another, I'm definitely getting one.

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Well I wont be driving up to Canada again any time soon. Quebec sucked lol(for the 2 hours we were there...)
Ill just run to radio shack again and get another one for $20 USD if I ever need a second one that badly The 3 dollar difference will make up for the gas I would have used to get to Canada for it... >_>
<_<
Yeah my truck gets 400miles to the gallon, so what?

[Metal Slug 2]

Well I wont be driving up to Canada again any time soon. Quebec sucked lol(for the 2 hours we were there...)
Ill just run to radio shack again and get another one for $20 USD if I ever need a second one that badly The 3 dollar difference will make up for the gas I would have used to get to Canada for it... >_>
<_<
Yeah my truck gets 400miles to the gallon, so what?

Lol.  ok.

[Metal Slug 2]

Ive been searching for batteries.  i found this one: http://www.robotshop.ca/lynxmotion-bat-03-battery.html and i think it would work.  the only thing i find bad about this battery is that I dont think its connector will fit onto the header pins for the $50 robot.  also the cheapest charger from the robotshop.ca is like $40... i would like the charger + battery from the same site (reduced shipping costs)
Recent news tells me that http://www.onlybatterypacks.com is not safe to buy from,
and http://www.all-battery.com/ 's cheapest shipping is still like $20

Are there any other sites I can find 6v/1400+mah NiMH battery packs and chargers.?

[Razor Concepts]

Look for online radio control web sites, they usually have the best deals. www.towerhobbies.com has $5 shipping. Also eBay is a good place to look.

You don't need to get a 6 volt 1400mah+ battery. I use a 4.8 volt 1000mah NiCd and it works great and lasts forever. Driving two servos doesn't take that much power so lower MaHs are fine.