Amended General Rule BATTERY SAFETY
 

My appologies if this is a double post (i have done a quick search), but I've just been sent this.

Amended General Rule BATTERY SAFETY

19/11/2007

This amended rule is to be included in the BRCA general rules with immediate effect.

The addition wording to rule 4.

Safety in General Rules to read.

"In the interest of safety, any battery packs(s) carried on a model car, must be able to be disconnected
quickly without the use of tools in an emergency. Direct soldering is not allowed"

The above rule which has been agreed by a postal vote to all Executive Committee Members and is of a
safety issue will take immediate effect

Signed
Mick Hill
BRCA Secretary

http://www.brca.org/BRCA/News/Amende...Y%20SAFETY.htm

Certainly seems fair enough, most connectors like Deans, Corally and Power Poles have virtually no resistance so shouldn't affect anyone and will increase safety :)

thats goodnews all inthe nameof safety :)

Carl better get soem corrallys.;)

A

it shocks me that this rule was not enforced from day one of the brca or was it an issue never raised before i remember 1200sc,s bursting into flames so its not a recent problem :D

That's me not racing at the weekend then.:mad:

Seems like a knee-jerk reaction to me.
I have seen cells that exploded when not plugged in so connectors will make little difference.
If the cells are looking like they are about to explode then I'm not going anywhere near them, I certainly wouldn't even entertain the notion of getting my hands close enough to unplug them!:o

In my experience, connectors are only useful as a safety measure when a speedo goes tits up.

err i thought everyone used connectors anyway??!!

dom u iant racing cos of that ?

you must have some corallys kicking around ?

I do, but I doubt I can find the time.
My brushless speedo is at a mate's house and I won't get it back until Sunday morning and I may need to rewire it anyway.
I also need to change my batteries to fit into my X-5.

It was looking decidedly dodgy before, even worse now.:(

Besides, if it rains I'll be in the van, sulking!:D

Dom,

I'll do your cells for you mate ...... you can glue my tires ... that way both of us should get to finish a race!!!! ;)

I think this is for safety reasons, for which you said - when a car is on fire, or a problem with the car occurs.. esc failure, battery failure etc.

I think this is a great move, and i've said many a times.. if a car comes to me which cant be stopped due to soldered wires, it'l be getting chucked away from me.

ive never soldered direct no point really also yes you can isolate a car with plugs a like wise if it is soldered turn it on its roof and let it burn i like my fingers:rolleyes:

but dom it is also good as lots of people will want to buy connectors ;)

A

thought you'd learnt your lesson first time round!:D mind you suppose it was easier than trying to salvage your xx4;)

To be fair, this is more aimed at ESC/Motor failures, as an exploding cell has it's own disconnection method!! Even a fried ESC usually melts the solder off the soldering posts/wires.

It's a little frustrating personally, as i do solder cells in. At the end of the day though, it doesn't make a real difference.

then i guess we will buy one set of deans add them inline
so it can be unpluged, but still solder to cells,

It does make a difference. Fair enough I understand that this rule may not protect against batteries exploding, but it protects against anything else. If a car had something smoking from it, safest bet it to unplug the battery and leave it alone to cool down before inspecting. Simply not possible with direct soldered battery. I have had personally some IB4200 problems, where one or two of the cells in the battery started venting very loudly. Fortunately a marshal noticed this (I didn't!) and unplugged the car. If I had no plugs, would have made that impossible.

Also connectors will save everyone time, simple to connect and disconnect battery. Direct soldering really helps so little in terms of resistance advantage, as connectors are so effcient anyway. Not sure what the problem really is? Surely anything in the name of safety is worth while, as if anything is deemed unsafe the hobby will start to disappear.

Nope, and yes.:(:D

I direct solder as it removes the risk of cells coming accidently unplugged, which was a real problem for me when using Corally connectors.
It looks like Shrek has hit the nail on the head with a solution though, I will fit a Deans connector inline and still solder to the cells. As an added bonus, it will make it easier to swap the speedo between cars.

Never in my life have I heard anything more ridiculous! 2 "respected" members of our hobby are going to cut their speedo wire, solder in some deans-corrallys and then not bother to use the nice shiney new conector, just so you can solder direct onto cells? How pathetic

got to agree why put a connecter in and then still not use it:confused:

Just out of interest what is to be gained by soldering your cells in anyway? Because i havent had a corally fall out before.

lil ben

It makes people think you're a pro!!! only joking. A solder joint has lower resistance than a connector, that's why most poeple solder motors in too. In the good old days we used RS connectors on the motor wires.


Touring Car poeple solder batteries in alot too. So do people in the States

DV

If you solder the cells, you have no corally to fall out in the first place I guess. Too much like hard work for me tho. I've seen many corallys fall out over the years, or various connectors desolder due to poor connection.
When people quote the 'less resistance than wire' thing they are refering to a new connector- and you only use a new connector once, after that it degrades gradually.

that would be because we prefer to solder its better, it just is,
we to had probs with connectors coming of, since we started to solder, we never had a problem also most of the problems with speedos going bang apart from the one at teeside, have all had inline connectors,when you have been racing for over 18 years nick you can call me pathetic, other wise dont bother,i forgot more then ull ever know

Erm... how is it 'better' to keep re-making the same solder joint when you also have a connector in the wire?

I can see there's an argument for direct soldering and not having any connectors - but once there's a connector fitted, I can't understand why you'd solder instead of using it!

I solder my cells in because I was fed up of Corally connectors coming unplugged. I tried Deans used in the conventional manner but just couldn't get the car tidy enough for my liking.

By using a Deans connector where it won't get in the way I can comply with the BRCA's (frankly ridiculous) new rule (can they do that without polling the members?) and keep my wiring as I like it.

they do poll the members, thats how there elected to run the section! can you imagine if they had to ask every time there was a question it would make a mokery of the committee!...unfortunatly not every rule make every person happy, you just have to live with it..
never had a problem with my corally's although i do change the male end every season. not exactly bank breaking

I think anything can be brought in under the grounds of safety, and righly so.

G

Soldering to the cells seems a bit daft to me.. I have had corallys come out during a bad crash so I now cable tie the wires to the battery strap on the B4 during Nationals and regionals, this prevents any back/forward movement.. it seemed easier to do this than learning not to crash...

N

Carl, that is actually good thinking on the deans connector - really hadn't thought of that one!!

I can't believe people are complaining about a safety rule. If an event occured and someone perhaps got injured, there would be proof that the issue was considered and acted on. Or of course we could just ignore safety and when something does go wrong, the hobby goes with it.

I've never had a Corally unplug, in-fact I find it quite difficult to unplug them sometimes as they are tight fit. I simply replace a connector if ever it came loose fitting (which has never really happened to me). As I have said before connector resistance really isn't an issue. I done run tests using the same ESC/Motor. One config was direct solder, one was Deans, and the other Power Poles....... and under current load there is literally no measurable difference between either. I didn't run Corally connectors at the time (I only started using Corally this year when I got into touring car over summer), but I assume that would be same story.

In fact in years of RC I can only think of one connector related problem. 13/14 years ago my brother decided to put a Reedy 14x4 (very quick for then) in his Tamiya Super Sabre. Lets just say the Tamiya plugs weren't up to the task and the Super Sabre became a molten sculpture. But seriously, plugs don't come de-soldered if they are properly soldered in first place, and even with deterioration over time their resistance is negligible in the grand scheme of things.

Good sensible rule by BRCA I say.

For me I couldn't care less about the resistance, the reason I direct solder is my cells have to fit in 3 cars. Direct soldering is the best way of doing this, otherwise I'd have to move the corrally tube connector on the cells dependant on which car I was running.

I think Carl's idea is fantastic and will be using that method.

every time you plug and unplug a connector in, it degrades slightly,the only thing that keeps that connection is a piece of metal under tension, (IE spring) which sparks every time you connect it, under movement of the car i GUESS, and i say guess because i don't know,but will lead to the eventual fail of this connector,and i would imagine cause heat build up,adding to the failures we have seen this year,I do see why this rule has been brought in,safety issues, but i cant see how people think not soldering is better,
i would ask the question why do a lot of the top racers and big guns out there do this, and have almost always done this,I'm my case i started to do it because we lost a few races because of the battery connectors coming unplugged,i also must admit we haven't lost a single speedo since we started doing this, not so when i used connectors,

But when you are soldering your cells in what happens if your speedo for example blows and you cant unplug your battery. What is the marshall supposed to do if they cant unplug it?

lil ben

and same if your batts start venting. he cant unplug it, so it may just blow up infront of him. now im no expert, but surely that would hurt!

But that is carls point if he puts a pair of eans line he can unplug it but he can still solder hsi cells so if it does go pop bang wizzzzzz it cna still be unplugged and its legal.

HIGH FIVE LIL BEN!!!!


A

put it on the floor and pi55 on it

Wear a LiPo sack over your head :D

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


A

I think marks point is the best one. lol.

err ok then Ash high five.

lil ben

but mr latham wudnt be very happy if some1 unplugs his deans because they could degrade slightly :o o gosh.. its the end of the world!! noooooo.

c'mon everyone, think of marshalls safety and stop just thinking about yourself. i would love some1 to keep soldering their cells in and for their car to go bang, so you can look at the black heap of ash on the floor. maybe that will teach you a lesson??

i have only had problems with old corallys. if you buy new ones, male and female from the same supplier.. i have never had a problem with this.