update 8 clarification, drill motor and blue wires

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

does anyone know for sure about replacement motors? I would be REALLY surprized if you purchase just the motor and it came with those same blue wires.

I bought motors right from Bosch. They come with the blue wires.

Joe J.

[philipprogramer]

ok, i'm still in the dark... Is it legal or not to desolder the wires, first they say it isn't then it is now i'm confused

[fox46]

Ahem.. Um....well.. you see, they sorta- "desoldered" themselves... We were running ours, and they melted the solder and fell off, so we've been using our own solderless connectors- what would be the ruling on this? Should we risk destroying our motors by resoldering them? Personally I would consider using the stock blue wires FIRE AND SAFETY HAZARDS As the can get extremely hot. 12Gauge wire will NOT handle 40 Amps of current!! This seems a little "non-engineer like" of FIRST,

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by fox46

12Gauge wire will NOT handle 40 Amps of current!! This seems a little "non-engineer like" of FIRST,

Just like 50 Amp battery connectors will not handle the 120 amps that can pass through the breaker.

[Adam Y.]

As the can get extremely hot. 12Gauge wire will NOT handle 40 Amps of current!! This seems a little "non-engineer like" of FIRST,

Do a little search. There are discussions about how the blue wires will carry the current of the motors. The wires I believe are designed differntly from normal gauge wire. Also if you wires are desoldering themselves then you have more serious problems then those two wires falling off. The drill motors possibly may be damaged internally. They never got that hot for our team.

[Wetzel]

FIRST really made a mess when they titled that paragraph 'Caution advised regarding the ½” drill motors.'

They then proceed to say "You may not replace the blue wires," and "Do not attempt to unsolder the blue wires".

Is it a cautionary advisory, or a rule?

All the QA has been that it is a strong advisory, but I guess the next update will clairify.

Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do, or do not. There is no try.

[Dorsk65]

Last year we de-soldered the wires from both the motors (I'm not sure why, the originals should have handled) and came out with one working motor and one horribly screwed up one. I can't really describe the problem, but it was definitely because of the soldering, so I strongly reccommend avoiding soldering the wires back on.

[Andy A.]

It seems to me, a better option then soldering/desoldering would be to just take the blue wires off, file off the exsisting solder and use some crip on connectors. You avoid high heat so there is no way you can kill the motor, you eliminate the 12 gauge (yes, i know the insulation is rated high, but still...) and you keep everything on easy to swap quick disconnects.

I realize, that if the update is to be taken as a rule, this is illegal. However, if FIRST had meant this to be a rule, it would have been put into the manual through the team update. Instead, it was issued as an advisory.

My take on it is thus: You may do what ever you please to the wires short of replacing them with smaller wires. However, you have been warned, and don't expect FIRST to be sympathetic when you complain about the new motors not being robust.

I plan on testing some crimp on connectors on last years drill motors. Assuming I can get the solder off with out trouble and the connections are good, I'll consider doing the same on this years motors. Unless some one can convince me that FIRST is going to consider that advisory a rule, it seems the best route to go.

-Andy A.

[Mark Pettit]

On the FIRST Q&A System, there have been many, many (did I say many) questions regarding the blue wires and the update. Many teams had already altered their blue wires by shortening them, removing them, resoldering them, and/or replacing them with quick connects. Most of them asked if the motors would pass inspection since they were altered prior to the update.

In ALL instances, FIRST says that these teams will still be in compliance with the rules but that such alterations to the blue wires are not recommended.