Modular Robotics Announces Recall of Dexter Industries Rechargeable Battery Pack

General Discussions
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Originally published at: https://www.dexterindustries.com/modular-robotics-announces-recall-of-dexter-industries-rechargeable-battery-pack/

Robot kits like the GoPiGo and BrickPi are designed to give users a safe space to iterate and experiment with engineering, coding, and robotics. And that means they need to be just that: safe. That’s why we’re announcing the recall of the Dexter Industries Rechargeable Battery Packs, previously sold for the GoPiGo and BrickPi robots.…

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Is this going to be re-released?

You may also wish to take a look at the exposed rivets on the battery holder.  I ran into a situation where one of the contacts on the battery holder accidentally made contact with the barrel of the plug-in, (I think, I’m looking for my posting on this now), causing a high-current short circuit, a lot of smoke, and (essentially) ruined the battery holder.

My workaround is to apply black electrical tape to both ends of the battery holder to insulate the exposed rivets.  A better “fix” would be to have a thin plastic shield glued to both ends of the battery holder.

BTW, I’ve since replaced the battery holder with another 8-cell holder and insulated the ends of that one too.

Another thought:  Is it possible to get a 10-cell battery holder?  using an 8-cell holder and NiMH batteries, (at 1.2v each), starts us off at 9.6 volts - a far cry from the 12v DC that would be more desirable for a longer run-time.

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Hi Jim,

I’m the Educational Designer at Modular Robotics. Yes, we are releasing a re-engineered rechargeable battery pack. You can learn more about the safety features we included on the main Recall FAQ page. As soon as it is ready to ship, we’ll make another announcement on the blog and in the forums.

For now, we won’t be changing the battery holders that we currently offer - but that’s an interesting idea to consider. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with us and the Dexter Forums community!

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Hi @jimrh
The battery holder now comes with a dark sticker on the rivets, so they are no longer exposed.

Thanks!
Cleo

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