Use of Twist-Ties on Robot

[mattiasZ]

Hi,
Our team recently attended another tournament and two of our robots used twist-ties to help secure wire connections (such as from the motor wire to a motor controller wire). However, during inspection, the inspector sent us back to replace these twist-ties with zip-ties as he believed that they were being used illegally (this event made us redo the entire cable management system on both robots right before the competition).

According to rule

R7 k

(if your reading on their mobile application) or rule

R7 l

(if your reading the PDF document):

Commercially available items used solely for the purpose of bundling or wrapping of 2-wire, 3-wire, 4-wire cables, and pneumatic tubing, for the purposes of protection, organization, or management are allowed. This includes but is not limited to electrical tape, cable carrier, cable track, etc.
Note: it is up to inspectors to determine whether a component is serving a function beyond protecting and managing cables.

The reason we use, or we used, twist-ties instead of zip-ties is because we find that the zip-ties apply stress on the wire headers and the pins inside of them (they push them apart) eventually degrading the quality of the connection.

I just wanted some clarification and know if using twist-ties, to make sure wire connections do not fall apart, “is serving a function beyond protecting and managing cables” (Rule

R7 k

).

Thanks

[mwang17]

We use some on our robot and have never been called on them because of the rule you quoted. They should be legal… Did you show the inspector that rule?

[Nehalem]

I believe that your interpretation of the rules is correct since the zip ties were only being used for wire management. If you want an official reply from Karthik, go ahead and post this in the official Q&A.