Our team has been using rechargable AAA batteries to power our VexNet Joysticks for a while now, and while the batteries have more or less done the job, one of our 8-battery chargers has stopped working and our 16-battery charger seemed to be damaging the batteries. Considering we have well over 50 AAA batteries one remaining 8-battery charger is not going to cut it.
I figured the best source for recommendations are other robotics teams, so I’m making this post looking for recommendations, preferably ones that can charge 8-16 batteries at once. We additionally would rather avoid the VEX brand chargers.
I seem to remember a question that teams are asked at inspections. “Are you using Vex Chargers?” correct me if that is only for 7.2v but we have always just used the VEX ones
I don’t think it matters which AAA charger you use. The rational for having to use a VEX 7.2 volt charger is that because the robot battery actually affects robot performance. The remote batteries … do not.
Are we required to use Vex AAA batteries in the controller? My team sometimes uses Duracell non-rechargeable batteries in a pinch, and we’ve never been asked about joystick batteries before.
I just checked; <R13f> is the only relevant rule. It requires that Vexnet joysticks be powered by AAA batteries. It doesn’t say anything about Vex batteries or Vex chargers for batteries.
The thing is that all of the results I have gotten from google have been rather skewed. 50% of reviews tend to say that the product is garbage, the other 50% love the product.
I figured that getting recommendations from other teams would lead us in the right direction