Wireless LEDs

[18gbelton]

Hi I am from Team 4906... I recently bought a wireless remote LED controller and we were wondering if it was allowed to be used at competition
Here are the LED's
http://www.amazon.com/Remote-Control...led+controller

[Domtech]

We used a similar one once.

Our argument for why it might be legal is that it isn't a wireless communication system on its own, it is just a sensor that detects light pulses.
We would set it before going on the field and not use it during matches.

A better option we found robot-legality-wise was this:
http://www.amazon.com/HitLights-Colo...led+controller

edit:
just noticed that the one you linked uses RF wireless. that is definitely not allowed.
Our inspector a few years ago was OK with the infrared one, but I don't see them allowing that.

[engunneer]

If you have some documentation about what frequency they use (probably the ~400 MHz range), you should be ok, I think. You can't use walkie talkies, and you can't set up wifi networks, but this is a totally other band. I would check with Q&A or the event FTA if you don't get a Q&A response by then. If the FTA says you can't use them, or asks you to not use them, then leave them alone.

If you're planning to use it on the robot, it's a no-go. For a stand or pit display, you should be ok with the above caveats. If it's being set once when you turn on your pit in the morning, and not touched after that, then you aren't transmitting any RF at all during the day, which should be fine.

[frcguy]

I agree with what others have said. You could potentially use it in a pit display, although it does use RF for communication, so it's legality is dubious at best. If you could provide RF spectrum documentation that shows what band it operates in you might have a better shot, but it will most likely be relatively hard to find such a document. Using it on the robot is definitely not allowed however. Your best bet is probably to submit a Q&A, or just not take the risk and not use it.