Phantom 3 Battery Covers - protect battery terminals from a short circuit

[DPD]

They should not break easily. However, if you apply pressure to them from the side, they will most definitely become weaker and/or snap off.

Let me just start off by saying I thank u for trying to make traveling with these batteries safer. I know this is going to sound stupid to some people, but can these be made out of a softer plastic? I think a softer plastic would be more malleable and therefore the chances of a piece of plastic breaking off inside the terminal can be avoided. Four instance I'll referred to the child proof covers for your house outlets. The plastic is much softer and flexible, I also have never seen one of them break off into a house outlet yet. I would definitely buy some of these for my batteries if I did not have to worry about the plastic breaking. It would make life a lot easier traveling with these batteries, I'm sure some of us out there have used electrical tape to cover the terminals while traveling, and when you take off the tape you have to have some rubbing alcohol to get off the residue from the electrical tape, which is a real pain in the ***..


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[Ken Nash]

Mileage may vary for sure. I'm not sure how the spade broke off. But when it did it was buried deep in the slot. I think I used a paper clip to remove it. It was not fun. They are a great idea, just my experience was less than optimum. The design seems just about perfect and you wouldn't think you could get lateral pressure on the spades but some how I did.

Its shame that you had this problem but I'm sure that if continued to use them you perhaps would be more cautionary when applying them to the battery. I have taken your experience on-board and shall be very careful in applying them to my batteries in future.

 

[iflyhelis]

Right. I don't share my models. Sorry

I don't blame you! Why would you, Get a patent for your design.

Kurt

 

[tcope]

I don't blame you! Why would you, Get a patent for your design

Sure... for about $10,000.

Its not about making money to msigner. I suspect he's just against the _principle_ of sharing his work. It's like letting someone copy your homework.... it does not adversely affect you but it's just the principle of the thing.

 

[msinger]

can these be made out of a softer plastic? I think a softer plastic would be more malleable and therefore the chances of a piece of plastic breaking off inside the terminal can be avoided. Four instance I'll referred to the child proof covers for your house outlets. The plastic is much softer and flexible, I also have never seen one of them break off into a house outlet yet.

Those outlet covers are made from a mold, so the final product is one solid piece of plastic. Since 3D parts are made up of many strings of plastic, they can be brittle (if not designed/printed properly) and are much easier to break apart (especially thin parts).

The only other type of plastic that might make a difference is nylon. I have a spool of it, but haven't tried printing anything with it yet. I'm not sure it'll make any difference since the tabs inside of the battery covers are so small. It's also about double the price of other commonly used filaments.

When I first designed these battery covers, the tabs were much easier to break off. I redesigned them (many times) and I think the current design is pretty sturdy. However, I'm always open to any suggestions people have and am continuously working to make my parts better/stronger/neater.

As for the current state of the tabs, I'm going to try making them a bit wider and a bit shorter. I think both changes will help to make the tabs even more sturdy.

 

[iflyhelis]

Nothing against your design, it is your design. But for a temporary transport situation for me, I am going to tape over access to the two battery terminals to play it safe.

I am driving from Norton,MA to Smuggler's Notch,VT & I don't need a battery fire in my truck, a dead short would maybe be a explosion, but the battery is supposed to be "Intelligent" I won't take that chance.

Kurt

Those outlet covers are made from a mold, so the final product is one solid piece of plastic. Since 3D parts are made up of many strings of plastic, they can be brittle (if not designed/printed properly) and are much easier to break apart (especially thin parts).

The only other type of plastic that might make a difference is nylon. I have a spool of it, but haven't tried printing anything with it yet. I'm not sure it'll make any difference since the tabs inside of the battery covers are so small. It's also about double the price of other commonly used filaments.

When I first designed these battery covers, the tabs were much easier to break off. I redesigned them (many times) and I think the current design is pretty sturdy. However, I'm always open to any suggestions people have and am continuously working to make my parts better/stronger/neater.

As for the current state of the tabs, I'm going to try making them a bit wider and a bit shorter. I think both changes will help to make the tabs even more sturdy.

 

[msinger]

Nothing against your design, it is your design. But for a temporary transport situation for me, I am going to tape over access to the two battery terminals to play it safe.

No worries. There are numerous ways to cover the battery terminals. This is just one that I invented

 

[Wolfiesden]

Those outlet covers are made from a mold, so the final product is one solid piece of plastic. Since 3D parts are made up of many strings of plastic, they can be brittle (if not designed/printed properly) and are much easier to break apart (especially thin parts).

The only other type of plastic that might make a difference is nylon. I have a spool of it, but haven't tried printing anything with it yet. I'm not sure it'll make any difference since the tabs inside of the battery covers are so small. It's also about double the price of other commonly used filaments.

When I first designed these battery covers, the tabs were much easier to break off. I redesigned them (many times) and I think the current design is pretty sturdy. However, I'm always open to any suggestions people have and am continuously working to make my parts better/stronger/neater.

As for the current state of the tabs, I'm going to try making them a bit wider and a bit shorter. I think both changes will help to make the tabs even more sturdy.

Nylon is a bear to get it to stick to the plate. At least it was for me.

You might want to check out some of the flex TPE type materials. I am pretty sure NinjaFlex is too soft and pliable to be useful in this design. I think some of the SemiFlex materials would be perfect though. Might seek some samples of FilaFlex for example. You can get small samples (so you don't have to purchase entire 1kg rolls) from here:
Flexible