Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Roboraptor and Rechargeable Batteries
Because the Roboraptor chews through batteries pretty readily, many people have asked about using rechargeables. Here's the party line: WowWee doesn't want you to use them and if you fry your robot, it's on you, use at your own risk! I have not heard about any fryers yet on the Roboraptor forum, but buyer beware.
I decided to take the plunge and get some myself. Most reports say to get either 2300 mah or 2500 mah (Milliamps) high quality batteries. Choose the manufacturer who is considered the one of the best in your part of the world. I picked Duracell.
With my freshly bought Duracell 2300 mah batteries I ran home anticipating wild new robot dinosaur antics in the making. In an instant I loaded them into Fluffy, my green Roboraptor. Then I nearly cried. He shuffled mildly like a Zombie from Shaun Of The Dead, unable to make any progress on my carpet at all. After a few pathetic roars, I shut poor Fluffy off.
Then I remembered, you have to charge new rechargeable batteries first before using them! After ten hours of charging I tried again. Fluffy nearly danced! At the second walking speed (forward button twice), he really did well on the carpet. The same applied for the fast backward walking speed (backward button twice), which he never managed well at all!
Until next time...
I decided to take the plunge and get some myself. Most reports say to get either 2300 mah or 2500 mah (Milliamps) high quality batteries. Choose the manufacturer who is considered the one of the best in your part of the world. I picked Duracell.
With my freshly bought Duracell 2300 mah batteries I ran home anticipating wild new robot dinosaur antics in the making. In an instant I loaded them into Fluffy, my green Roboraptor. Then I nearly cried. He shuffled mildly like a Zombie from Shaun Of The Dead, unable to make any progress on my carpet at all. After a few pathetic roars, I shut poor Fluffy off.
Then I remembered, you have to charge new rechargeable batteries first before using them! After ten hours of charging I tried again. Fluffy nearly danced! At the second walking speed (forward button twice), he really did well on the carpet. The same applied for the fast backward walking speed (backward button twice), which he never managed well at all!
Until next time...
