The new control system uses the same 12v battery that we have used in FTC for years.  These batteries are officailly 12v but when new or they are well cared for they typically can be charged to 14+ volts.  We have set our Driver's Station ZTE Speed phone to show the voltage of the main battery on the phone screen.  We have foundt that we routinely have communication problems when the robot main power drops below 13v. 

While the voltage reading on the phone is great, it doesn't tell us anything about the battery before we go through the process of loading it onto the robot and initializing the two phones.  That process has to be repeated if the battery is not actually charged to 13+ Volts.  During the recent process of tracking down an electrical short in the wiring we found that having a way to check the voltage on each 12v battery before going thorugh all the trouble of setting up the entire system was really important. 

We found an inexpensive dc voltage analyzer online that works with our system once Anderspon Power Poles were installed.   The unit is available from Amazon for <$15.