Mission Possible C

[dmis]

Would 2 batteries wired in series with each other count as one battery source?

I would most certainly say it is two seperate sources. There are plenty of relatively inexpensive, high power, Nickel metal hydride batteries out there. Finding ways around the explicitly stated rules is almost always considered in violation of the spirit of the rules.

I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to. Wouldn't any high power (voltage?) packs just be multiple 1.2v cells wired in series internally? I don't see why connecting individual cells would be any less in the spirit of competition than just buying a pack that did it for you. I can see how this could be risky without a FAQ however.

[ScottMaurer19]

Would 2 batteries wired in series with each other count as one battery source?

I would most certainly say it is two seperate sources. There are plenty of relatively inexpensive, high power, Nickel metal hydride batteries out there. Finding ways around the explicitly stated rules is almost always considered in violation of the spirit of the rules.

I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to. Wouldn't any high power (voltage?) packs just be multiple 1.2v cells wired in series internally? I don't see why connecting individual cells would be any less in the spirit of competition than just buying a pack that did it for you. I can see how this could be risky without a FAQ however.

The difference between using a commercially available multi-celled battery and two one cell batteries wired together by a competitor is theoretically nonexistent. However, based on the fact they banned LiPo batteries for being a "fire hazard", I would think that the part of the point of them giving a bonus for a single battery is to encourage the use of a commercially constructed battery which would in theory be safer than one built by a student. I understand why that rule is confusing because a larger battery is essentially just a bunch of smaller batteries (I myself am not sure why they did this because powerful battery packs can be expensive). I would submit an FAQ but I'm guessing that the ruling will be no.

[retired1]

Read line 2 of 3.j. Multiple batteries may be joined in parallel or series. So, what voltage and or m amperage are you looking for?

[ScottMaurer19]

Read line 2 of 3.j. Multiple batteries may be joined in parallel or series. So, what voltage and or m amperage are you looking for?

I believe he was asking whether or not rigging the batteries in series would count as a "single battery source" and therefore give him the "one battery bonus."

If you are just asking whether or not you can use more than one battery than I am sorry for the confusion. One can most definitely use more than one battery in series.

[dmis]

Thanks Scott, the bonus was what I was referring to. I submitted a FAQ about a week ago and never got a confirmation email nor a reply. Do you know if that is typical and I should just wait or is it likely I submitted it incorrectly?

[ScottMaurer19]

Thanks Scott, the bonus was what I was referring to. I submitted a FAQ about a week ago and never got a confirmation email nor a reply. Do you know if that is typical and I should just wait or is it likely I submitted it incorrectly?

I've submitted about 8 FAQs and only had 2 answered. I did not receive email confirmation on any of the ones submitted so that isn't unusual (although I remember getting email confirmation on FAQs 2013-14 season). FAQs can take a long time to be answered and or may not be answered at all. I have no idea if there is an issue with submission (I submit all of mine the same way and some get answered some don't) so I would just wait another week or two and then resubmit.

[Unome]

Thanks Scott, the bonus was what I was referring to. I submitted a FAQ about a week ago and never got a confirmation email nor a reply. Do you know if that is typical and I should just wait or is it likely I submitted it incorrectly?

I've submitted about 8 FAQs and only had 2 answered. I did not receive email confirmation on any of the ones submitted so that isn't unusual (although I remember getting email confirmation on FAQs 2013-14 season). FAQs can take a long time to be answered and or may not be answered at all. I have no idea if there is an issue with submission (I submit all of mine the same way and some get answered some don't) so I would just wait another week or two and then resubmit.

I'd recommend waiting a little longer than that. From what I've heard, average answering time for a FAQ to get considered, answered, and posted is around a month.

[scioly2012]

I would most certainly say it is two seperate sources. There are plenty of relatively inexpensive, high power, Nickel metal hydride batteries out there. Finding ways around the explicitly stated rules is almost always considered in violation of the spirit of the rules.

I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to. Wouldn't any high power (voltage?) packs just be multiple 1.2v cells wired in series internally? I don't see why connecting individual cells would be any less in the spirit of competition than just buying a pack that did it for you. I can see how this could be risky without a FAQ however.

The difference between using a commercially available multi-celled battery and two one cell batteries wired together by a competitor is theoretically nonexistent. However, based on the fact they banned LiPo batteries for being a "fire hazard", I would think that the part of the point of them giving a bonus for a single battery is to encourage the use of a commercially constructed battery which would in theory be safer than one built by a student. I understand why that rule is confusing because a larger battery is essentially just a bunch of smaller batteries (I myself am not sure why they did this because powerful battery packs can be expensive). I would submit an FAQ but I'm guessing that the ruling will be no.

I was under the impression that the single battery source bonus is in place because it is more challenging to power all tasks with a single battery when creating the circuits. If this is the case, then I would assume 2 batteries in series would not be violating spirit of competition in theory as the circuits would still need to be wired in a similar manner. However, without any confirmation, I worry event supervisors would not see this in the same way. I guess I just have to hope they get around to answering my FAQ from a few weeks ago by the first invitational....

[Flavorflav]

Thanks Scott, the bonus was what I was referring to. I submitted a FAQ about a week ago and never got a confirmation email nor a reply. Do you know if that is typical and I should just wait or is it likely I submitted it incorrectly?

I've submitted about 8 FAQs and only had 2 answered. I did not receive email confirmation on any of the ones submitted so that isn't unusual (although I remember getting email confirmation on FAQs 2013-14 season). FAQs can take a long time to be answered and or may not be answered at all. I have no idea if there is an issue with submission (I submit all of mine the same way and some get answered some don't) so I would just wait another week or two and then resubmit.

I'd recommend waiting a little longer than that. From what I've heard, average answering time for a FAQ to get considered, answered, and posted is around a month.

I have been waiting over two months for some clarifications, and I am an event supervisor. Most importantly, I really want to know whether they would consider a passive sensor to be an electrically powered action. If so, then any sensor which is turned on at the beginning of device operation is going to tier you by 3i.

[ScottMaurer19]

I've submitted about 8 FAQs and only had 2 answered. I did not receive email confirmation on any of the ones submitted so that isn't unusual (although I remember getting email confirmation on FAQs 2013-14 season). FAQs can take a long time to be answered and or may not be answered at all. I have no idea if there is an issue with submission (I submit all of mine the same way and some get answered some don't) so I would just wait another week or two and then resubmit.

I'd recommend waiting a little longer than that. From what I've heard, average answering time for a FAQ to get considered, answered, and posted is around a month.

I have been waiting over two months for some clarifications, and I am an event supervisor. Most importantly, I really want to know whether they would consider a passive sensor to be an electrically powered action. If so, then any sensor which is turned on at the beginning of device operation is going to tier you by 3i.

I would hope that an electrically powered timer is different than an electrically powered action... If an electrically powered sensor isn't allowed to be passively turned on then that would make the event significantly more difficult (and expensive) not to mention ruin many competitiors current build plans and possibly even built devices.

I don't think that was the intention of the rules for many reasons: one of the actions requires the use of a photocell and making the photocell not passively turned on would be extremely difficult, the IR sensor action would also be hard to not have as a passive sensor or have the IR emitter on continuously, switches could then be seen as passively powered sensors because they rely electricity, etc.I would also argue that a passive sensor is not an action that takes longer than 10 seconds. The action would start when the sensor is tripped because up until that point the sensor is a static object with current running through it (a simple resistor) or a switch (which doesn't have electricity powering it until it is tripped). But maybe I'm wrong.