We spent season one without these 'power poles'....now we would never go with out! By the end of our first season the molex style connector on the 12-Volt battery was failing...this created many 'random' drop-outs. Usually we dropped when we were hit, or went up the ramp (a bump). The picture shows a 6-pin molex connector, but you can see how repeated connections could easily damage the internal pins. Also, handle the batteries and the change outs carefully. We see kids holding the battery by the wires (like a mouses tail).... DON'T do that!