pic: Are these legal?

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

The color "blue" has been trademarked by teams 254, 341 and 1086 and is therefore not a legal color for other FRC robots, parts, or teams. Unfortunately you can expect legal action if you or your team use anything "blue". I would recommend against it.

From pictures I have never seen another team use a particular color of power poles. It's a small detail but something I would expect from a team like 254.

[mrnoble]

[mrnoble]

In seriousness though, I have considered purchasing other colors from Anderson, as they do sell their connectors in many colors. You're right, it would be a nice touch if your team colors are reflected in unique ways on the robot; it's a little thing, but worth considering.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Please note that if you use a different color SB50 connector other than the Red type (or the special *FRC pink version of the Red type), you will not be able to connect to the Spare Parts batteries or other team's batteries. The SB50 connector series is keyed by color. A blue connector won't mate to a red connector etc.

*The pink is a special case where Anderson produced pink versions using the Red mold because they had to much of the pink plastic and wanted to use it for the donation.

[timytamy]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

*The pink is a special case where Anderson produced pink versions using the Red mold because they had to much of the pink plastic and wanted to use it for the donation.

That's neat, anywhere I can read more?

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by timytamy

That's neat, anywhere I can read more?

Not that I know of, that is just what I heard from people at FIRST when I asked about it.

[StAxis]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

From pictures I have never seen another team use a particular color of power poles. It's a small detail but something I would expect from a team like 254.

We used orange in 2013 and 2014 but we decided to switch back to red so that we would be compatible with other FRC teams, as the orange ones were too hard to force together with the red ones.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by StAxis

We used orange in 2013 and 2014 but we decided to switch back to red so that we would be compatible with other FRC teams, as the orange ones were too hard to force together with the red ones.

Is it illegal to modify the connectors ie shave off the inside tab.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Is it illegal to modify the connectors ie shave off the inside tab.

I thought R66 would make this illegal but after rereading it I'm not sure that it does. This should be something that you Q&A.

R66 The Driver Station software, roboRIO, Power Distribution Panel, Pneumatics Control Modules,
Voltage Regulator Modules, RSL, 120A breaker, motor controllers, relay modules, Wireless Bridge,
and batteries shall not be tampered with, modified, or adjusted in any way (tampering includes
drilling, cutting, machining, rewiring, disassembling, etc.), with the following exceptions:

[Knufire]

We also looked into using green SB50 connectors last year, but ditched the idea as soon as we realized each color was keyed differently. Not worth giving up compatibility with every other team in case you need to borrow/lend batteries at competition.

[endreman0]

The batteries should not include the connectors, because the batteries come without them (Source). So that should be legal, at least concerning R66.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Please reread Allen's post above. Robot Rules for 2016 do not specifically call out color but the Blue Box in R36 explains this further. Do not try to force different colored SB50 connectors as this may damage them. Modifying the connectors so that other colors may be used may be a violation of R66.