Bad luck, we were all rooting for you.
All things considered, I would much rather learn a lesson now, than on a bigger vehicle next year. On the other hand, it would have been considerate of the problem to show up on the second flight. :-(
I have always been a little worried about the fast-on connectors on the batteries we use, and this clinches it. If I can't find batteries in the size we need with ring terminals, we are going to solder the fast-ons directly to the batteries.Connectors are nearly always the least reliable part of any electrical system. I strongly recommend that you lose all your push fit connectors, and possibly all your other connectors if at all possible (usually isn't though). Push fits are used in cars a lot- they nearly always fail eventually.
Lots of conventional wisdom in many disciplines isn't really necessary, but we are incrementally finding out that lots and lots of the potential reliability issues with electronics really ARE issues.
I'm reading the Mil-HDBK on electronics reliability now, so maybe we can skip a lesson or two...
John Carmack
