[Peter Johnson]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

That said, if Talon SRXs or Victor SPs were [additionally/alternately] available COTS with APPs on the output (green and white) wires, leaving the red and black as stripped wire ends, 3946 would be sure to buy a bunch expecting to step around the difference between R13 [fabrication schedule, in particular R13-D] and R18 [Witholding Allowance rules] for 2016 and similar rules in recent years.

I would think an easier solution would be for FIRST to fix R18 to add an exception similar to R13-D and R18-A thru -C, and such a fix would be consistent with what appears to be the intent of R13 (reuse of motor controllers from year to year). Excepting that, you could put a couple of spare motor controllers in the bag with the robot so they aren't covered by R18.

With regards to connectors on Talon SRXs, my team puts APPs on both ends of the motor controllers and populates the PDP with short stubs to APPs. Yes, it adds a tiny amount of resistive loss, but it also makes it much much faster to swap and/or disconnect (we never have to pull a breaker!).