Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips > The "Black Arts!" ( Electrics & Electronics )
Model Boat wiring
sparkey:
;) Over many years of enjoying our great hobby I have noticed that the state of wiring in a lot of model boats is to say the least poor, some really wonderful boats let done by the wiring and broken down in the middle of the lake,I have spent many Sunday mornings soldering iron in hand helping other boaters with their wiring,not that I mind I quite enjoy it but would it not be better to sort it out before you get to the lake,if it looks neat and tidy it usually won't let you down so come on guys lets up our game,just a old man having a moan,hope you all have a great sailing weekend with not too much rain,Ray. ;)
inertia:
Ray
You're a man after my own heart. How many times I've seen a beautifully-made model with wiring like a rat's entrails; the wrong size battery for the motor used, wire which is too thin (or thick) for the job, choc-block connectors for high-current circuits, wires joined by twisting them together, PVC insulation tape wrapped around such joints - the list goes on. Whenever any observation is made about it the owner trots out some remark like "O, I don't understand electronics" as if that's a sort of badge of honour.
Operating electrically-powered model boats and not having a clue (or a care) about the basics of DC electricity is not cool - it's just lazy, or worse.
There's a link here to the Model Boats website where you'll find an article which covers just about everything you need to know - and there's no 'electronics' involved http://www.modelboats.co.uk/news/article/but-i-don-t-understand-electronics/18054
With suppliers like Component Shop who can sell you practically everything you need in the way of cables, connectors, batteries, chargers, switches and a whole range of model boat electronics then there really is no excuse for those horrible installations Ray mentions.
In my experience as a manufacturer of model electronics most of the problems which arise are the result of poor wiring or flat batteries. Less than half the units sent back for repair actually have anything wrong with them, and of those which do most of the faults are caused by incorrect connection or other abuse by the owner.
Like Ray says, if it looks right then it generally is, and it's much easier to trace a fault if you're not being attacked from all directions by loose wires!
My regime for wiring a boat is straightforward:
* Plan the job and get the right materials together before you start. Don't make do with something which isn't right for the job just because you have it to hand.
* Charge up all batteries before starting any installation.
* Start the job with the main battery and cable it up to the main switch - then test it.
* Fit any fuse and retest.
* Continue adding one unit at a time and testing it, then disconnect the battery and add the next unit. Don't wire everything up all at once and leave testing to the end. If you do the job in stages then if anything does go wrong you'll know that it was the the last step which caused it.If it was rocket-science then I'd have taken up basket-weaving long ago!
Dave M
essex2visuvesi:
I always try to go for a smart wiring install, but it always ends up looking like an explosion in a spagetti factory
U-33:
I was always taught by the late Bernie Wood to keep all wiring short as possible, away from moving parts if possible, clipped together if possible, and generally nice, neat and tidy.
I managed to nearly lose a sub when a loose wire got itself trapped around the air pump and was ripped off, leaving me submerged with no power to the ballast pump, and no way of surfacing. Luckily for me, Bernie always carried in his tool box a length of thin string with either a floating ball or a lead weight attached, depending on what was needed. Two casts later and the boat was unceremoniously dragged to the surface, and the wire repaired.
Ever since then, I always strive to keep The Great Man's advice in my mind when attempting any wiring in a sub.
Rich
Plastic - RIP:
This is one of the things that I've never understood - most of the people on here are showing photos of boats that are worth hundreds of pounds, yet if you look inside some of them, the equipment is bodged together with bits of old choc-block and ten tons of spaghetti.
I often see a rough old bit of ply with holes hacked in it to mount servos and motors. I see batteries loose to move around, wiring resting on motor couplings, motors with no suppression caps, loose receivers laying in the bilges and wiring for lights just thrown in.
With all of the ty-wraps, self-adhesive wiring clips, heat-shrink tubing, fibreglass & epoxies and composite boards that are available for pennies from ebay, why do people skimp of these important parts that give reliability?
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