I was recently asked by a local team, who has a bad battery in their controller, if they could save some money by replacing it with a battery that claimed to be compatible from Amazon. I suggested sticking to the official battery for various reasons, but their question left me curious. I looked through the game manual, but didn’t see anything that would prohibit this. Anyone know the answer?
The controller is part of the robot, it’s the device that lets teams cause the robot to move.
I know that there are rules that were specifically written because of things that I’ve done. So I’ll expect to see in the 2020-21 rules to say "Robots and Controllers may be built … " and go “Yep, Sankeydd did that” : - ). And just putting you on notice that if next years inspection says “Check controller battery”, I’m going to be unhappy .
I don’t plan on opening every roboteer’s controller to check the battery… but why would I spend $15 for an $11.50 battery from vex (other than to save some shipping costs?)
As the “Game Definitions” section of the manual states, the driver station is behind the field, the so controller never enters the field. Since a robot is placed on the field by definition, the controller shouldn’t be considered part of the robot. That being said, since there is no definition for controller this may just be an oversight in the definitions.
This season, my region lost our local distributor, so teams here can only ship through vex. I just checked the shipping of the battery from vex, and it’s more than the battery itself (shipping is $14.81). Amazon would have a faster delivery time. The battery I linked above also has a slightly larger capacity (900 mAh instead of 800 mAh).
Yeah, I agree. As some additional precedent, parts have been allowed on controllers in VRC that would definitely be illegal on robots (e.g., functional 3D printed components).
That said, I tend stay away from no-name batteries in general - the added risk is rarely worth the cost savings IMO.
I’m just a guy in a robot lab with way too many parts. Let me suggest that you submit an official Q&A question. Please do me a favor, if you get an answer, post it back here.
The VEX shipping is a pain since it starts at that minimum. People don’t understand that Amazon hides the shipping cost in each purchase.
a) Check with your local VEX reseller. I stock small critical parts like controller and robot battery packs. I’ll drop them off (or let them pick up at the Lab) for nearby teams and not charge the shipping. Your local reseller may do that for you.
b) I always find things that I can use in a season to add onto orders to make the cost of shipping per item less. Look at your inventory, got a spare motor? Long shafts? Plastic shafts? etc.
