Model Boat Mayhem
Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips => The "Black Arts!" ( Electrics & Electronics ) => Topic started by: nsa66 on July 05, 2010, 11:32:58 pm
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I am about to undertake a MAJOR refurbishment of my model of IOMPSCo’s King Orry, necessitated by the dropping of a 3’ TID tug on the after end of the Orry’s superstructure. <:(
I am using the opportunity to replace the motors, shafts and ESCs (which have been nicked for a more recent build). She sails well on 6v with a couple of generic 380s and Hitec ESCs. 540s were used initially but, though having a huge margin of reserve power for emergency conditions, would not allow a slow start, at least not with the fitted controllers. 385s were woefully underpowered. She currently runs for around 75 mins on a 6v 4AH battery (40-60 minutes with gadgets/lights in operation). There is no spare ballast capacity for heavier batteries.
I would really appreciate any advice regarding motor selection, speed controllers etc. Things have moved on since I last built a boat. Do brushless motors justify their cost? Is the complexity of gearing worth the effort, and what is the best way to accomplish this (the current installation allows the use of near-horizontal shafts which looks good, but a larger diameter motor/gear/pulley would need more incline)? I would prefer a switch to 12v to enable use of better smoke generator etc. but don’t know how this would affect choice of ESC and motor.
Boat is 48” long on a 6” beam and she weighs around 5-6 Kg.
All advice would be welcome.
(http://s4.postimage.org/HIVFS.jpg) (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVHIVFS)
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Were the 385's running at or near their max voltage? What size props?
I have one running half voltage shoving a 2.5-ish KG boat at real performance plus a bit lot for luck, so two on full voltage should be adequate. More modern ESCs of known manufacture will give all the control thats needed. A pair of ESCs with a built-in mixer even better.
NiMH batteries seem to pack more A/H capacity into less weight than SLA.
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A pair of 12v 555 motors sounds like the job, along with maybe a dual ESC/mixer from a certain manufacturer much mentioned in these columns %)
PM me for further info if you like.
FLJ
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Cheers guys. 385s were running on 6v so would probably do the job at 12v. Will use twin ESCs but forego the mixer as I'm using a twin throttle setup and would like to keep it. Can turn boat on its axis with full astern/quarter ahead and full rudder.
Will bear the much mentioned company in mind, FLJ. Have been impressed by a couple of their products already ACTually. ;)