Batteries
 

What do teams think about the rule of shipping the two batteries that were sent ( in orig. containers).

Re: Batteries
 

Don't get me wrong, but what I think is irrelevant--the rules say we have to ship the batteries, and even if I don't want to ship the batteries, I will ship the batteries, for no other reason than the fact that the rules say to ship the batteries.

However, our team has many, *many* old batteries that, while aren't competition-legal, are equivalent to the batteries we have to ship, so practice with our practice bot won't be hurt at all. The bigger blow is that we have to ship the controls. Usually that's a 6-1/2 / 7th week project...:p

I'm not worried about the battery rule. I see no problem with it.

JBot

Re: Batteries
 

we have to ship both batteries? even if we don't need them?

Re: Batteries
 

My guess is that every team will need both batteries....

Re: Batteries
 

well that sucks! i better warn my team...

Re: Batteries
 

Seeing as 1 match is enough to make our drive system "mushy", we'll definitely need every battery we can get our hands on. We ordered a few more batteries, because we change out our battery after every match.

But yes, the batteries do need to go in the crate, in their original packaging.

JBot

Re: Batteries
 

Shipping both batteries is not a huge inconvenience to us, as we have plenty of extra, old, illegal ones to mess around with, but we can't really do much anyway because we don't have the organization or money to build two robots. I still really dislike the rule, primarily for the original packaging bit because it is very easy to misplace that little brown box in a room with a lot of little brown boxes. (I found ours being used to store chain, actually) What would you do if the box was completely lost? You must ship the batteries, but you must ship them in original packaging, so you can't ship them, but you must ship them, but you can't ship them, etc.

Re: Batteries
 

This is bad will cost extra for shipping. :mad:

Re: Batteries
 

I have no problem sending the batteries, it makes sure that I don't forget one.

Re: Batteries
 

Being on a team with no time, money, or enough participants to build an extra bot, I see no reason to keep the battery at school...

Re: Batteries
 

Remember that you get free shipping to one event from FedEx, and drayage for the first 400 lbs is included in your registration fee. I doubt that the 26 lbs from shipping the two batteries will matter much.

Wetzel

Re: Batteries
 

Actually, our team might be effected by this very situation. We purposely built our crate extra sturdy and expected to go over the 400 lb mark like last year, when we had a crate + robot + bumpers that totalled 465 lbs. This year though, the addition of 2 batteries puts us up to 491 lbs., and the addition of the control board and a battery box could cause us to go over the 500 lb mark and have to pay another $50 shipping for each competition.

This is not a huge amount of money, just an inconvenience as we have to get cash to pay for it since we don't know how we would get a PO to handle this.

Re: Batteries
 

I think that shipping in the crate should be at the teams discretion.

Re: Batteries
 

I ditto Al.

Re: Batteries
 

I agree.

Re: Batteries
 

This rule along with the shipping of the control board rule only hurt rookies. It really makes no difference to veteran teams if they have their controls/batteries. They can go into their stockpiles and pull out an RC, OI and battery to power up a "practice bot". Sorry rooks.

Re: Batteries
 

What would a team do, hypothetically of course, if they didn't keep the battery packaging? :confused: Not reading the shipping rules until nearer to Ship Day?

Re: Batteries
 

We could post the specs on the regulation original packaging I suppose.

I think we actually have an old box packed into the crate from a couple of year's ago when this rule first came out and was first turned into a suggestion. We left the original shipping box and packing in the little wooden compartment, but never shipped more than one battery before. This year the battery will have company and an extra $50 overage charge. <sigh>

Re: Batteries
 

Gary,
I would post the question on Q&A. I would think that it would be acceptable to form a cardboard container around the batteries (like the original box), fully insulate both terminals and enclose in the battery part of the shipping container. Just to be on the safe side, include a copy of the battery sheet in the crate.

Re: Batteries
 

Same boat here. I had to eat $350.00 in shipping charges last year due to a PO mess. Although you may be able to generate a PO to yourself and provide the receipts to the district so you can get your money back. That is what we have to do this year.

Re: Batteries
 

we shipped the batteries last year.

Re: Batteries
 

You couldn't be more wrong. It hurts every single team that cannot afford the multi-thousand-dollar price tag required to go to several different regionals. Last year there was a really great equalizer - each team was allowed several hours per week to build spare parts, tweak their control systems, or do whatever needed to be done. The reason behind this is that teams who are at a regional have effectively 3 additional days to work on their robot per regional they attend. 3 days is a major amount of time when all of your time is spent at the event - no school, no job, no distractions.

Now they have decided to take away every team's control system. Now they have decided to take away every team's batteries. If these rulings are not reversed, I see this as blow to every team who struggles to be able to afford the FIRST entry fee, let alone the sky high fees to attend additional regionals. Teams that use previous years equipment to continue work after ship date are effectively cheating, and should reconsider what that means in a competition such as this - however, I could understand teams believing that this is the only way to compete against teams that are fortunate enough to be able to afford multiple regionals (and thus receive the extra time). In a way they are absolutely correct - in effect teams who pay for multiple regionals pay for additional time with their robot, and it's impossible to compete with that advantage with a ruling like this - and that should never be the case in any competition.

-Danny

Re: Batteries
 

That's a sad but truthful way of putting it.

Re: Batteries
 

Ummm... oops. We totally chucked out our original packaging for our battery a few weeks ago....

Re: Batteries
 

Well, not any more. The FIRST Q&A has definitively answered that rookie teams are in fact hosed when it comes to utilizing the FIX-IT windows to continue to develop their control systems (unless they happen to buy another OI/RC or borrow one from another team to continue their work).

-Danny

Re: Batteries
 

What if we dont have the original packaging for the batteries? What could we use to subsitute the packaging?

Re: Batteries
 

the batteries came without packaging in the red and blue totes, (at least ours did) and we don't know how to ship them back...