Batteries

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by Kautz

This is bad will cost extra for shipping.

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

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Wetzel

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

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.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

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

[JudyVandy]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

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

I ditto Al.

[Brandon Holley]

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.

[GaryVoshol]

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

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

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

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>

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

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

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.

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

This rule along with the shipping of the control board rule only hurt rookies.

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

[Tomasz Bania]

Originally Posted by Danny Diaz

Are teams with sponsors that have deep pockets worthy of special privileges? FIRST has just looked you in the eye and said YES.

-Danny

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

[geeknerd99]

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

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by Danny Diaz

Teams that use previous years equipment to continue work after ship date are effectively cheating ...

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

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

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

I agree.

[deshirider430]

we shipped the batteries last year.

[Reaper40]

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