Fixing solder points

[Nuames22]

So while testing my robot to get ready for TSA one of my motors stopped working so I took it apart to take a look. upon looking at the internals I found the wire had come out of the soldering so I took out my iron and fixed the solder is this motor no longer competition legal?

[holbrook]

Any question that asks “is this legal” should be answered by looking at the game manual. In this case the relevant rule is <R21>:

<R21> No modifications to electronic components are allowed. Motors (including the internal PTC or Smart Motor firmware), microcontrollers (including V5 Robot Brain firmware), extension cords, sensors, controllers, battery packs, reservoirs, solenoids, pneumatic cylinders, and any other electrical compo- nent or pneumatics component of the VEX EDR platform may NOT be altered from their original state in ANY way.

• a. External wires on VEX electrical components may be repaired by soldering, using twist/crimp connectors, electrical tape or shrink tubing such that the original functionality / length is not modified in any way. Wire used in repairs must be identical to VEX wire. Teams may make these repairs at their own risk; incorrect wiring may have undesired results.
• b. Teams are advised to use the latest official VEXos firmware updates, found at www.vexedr.com. Custom firmware modifications are not permitted.
• c. Teams may change or replace the gears in the “2-Wire 393” or “2-Wire 269” motors with the corresponding official VEX Replacement Gears
• d. Teams may change or replace the gear cartridge in the V5 Smart Motor with other official replacement gear cartridges

Since resoldering components on the inside of a motor could not be described as a repair to an “external wire”, the repaired motor is not competition-legal.

[marinmersenne]

Realistically though they aren’t going to tear apart your motors during inspection an inspect all the solder joints so as long as it still performs the same and has not obviously been modified you should be good using it.
I used to replace the wires on the old 393s when they broke internally and sometimes the motor when the brushes burned out and just made sure to test them afterward to make sure they worked the same.

[TeamTX]

They are, however, likely to ask if you have modified any electrical components…

[holbrook]

Yeah, “knowingly violating a rule and hoping the inspectors won’t notice” is not a good idea, and may be a violation of the RECF Code of Conduct.

[DRow]

Realistically though they aren’t going to tear apart your motors during inspection an inspect all the solder joints so as long as it still performs the same and has not obviously been modified you should be good using it.

Yeah… don’t do this.

@Nuames22 You’d be much better off just contacting our customer support team to see if the motor is still under warranty and getting it repaired / replaced.

[JasonFPV]

I would only do this if you cannot get it replaced under warranty. While it may technically not be legal, I don’t see any poor sportsmanship in it or anything and I wouldn’t hold anything against you for it, nor would an inspector notice.

[Railgunawesome]

If you choose to try this, better make sure that you are very good at it, because if you can’t solder correctly, you may end up causing more problems. On top of that, your warranty is now void so not only is your motor even more badly messed up, you also won’t get a replacement.