We had the impression that V5 battery is much powerful and long lasting. However, our team’s experience shows other wise. We have a simple DR4B bot - 4 motor drivertrain, 2 motor lift, 1 motor claw. Our battery only last about 10 minutes. After that, the lift motor don’t have enough power and can no longer go up.
Click the button on the battery. Is the first light red? If so, it is dead. If any are green and solid, your battery is fine. You should next feel your motors. If they feel fairly hot, then it was probably a motor overheat; the motor was under too much stress and shut down to protect itself. You can see if it overheated in the log. In my experience, The battery lasts about 2.5 hours of on and off use (like at a competition).
If the battery can only last 10 minutes then either the battery has a bad cell or you’re mistaking the “Battery’s 10 Minutes” as motor burnout. The V5 batteries I use tend to last upwards to 30-45 minutes of heavy usage, that should not be happening for you, so I would suggest seeing if a different battery does the same thing in regards to your problem. If the second battery does the same exact thing after 10 minutes i am near certain it’s the motors being burnt out rather than the battery. If the second battery does not do the same thing and lasts much longer, then likely the first battery has a dead or weak cell.
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As Connor said, our robot only runs for ten minutes ish, and at first we thought it was batteries until we realized that the motors were overheating
upsidedown compressed air cans are great for cooling motors down just make sure to not cold shock them
If you disconnect the motors from your lift (physically pull the axles out of the motors not the gears) can you move the lift up and down with minimal effort (i.e. using only a finger and light pressure). If not then you are putting too much load on the motors and your lift either has too much friction or your rubber band assist is not sufficient. A picture would help us understand what may be causing issues.
The same goes for the drive. Pull the axle out of the motors (and only the motors). If the wheels don’t free spin easily then there is too much friction in your drive train. If they don’t free spin and you have gearing or chain disconnect that. If they still don’t free spin, the wheels are probably sandwiched too tightly. If they do free spin then the gearing or chain has too much friction.
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