Model Boat Mayhem
Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips => The "Black Arts!" ( Electrics & Electronics ) => Topic started by: 6705russell on December 11, 2007, 09:23:11 pm
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Just wondering if anybody as had trouble with electrics/electronics during the cold snap? All my boats/subs are in the garage and it measured -3c in there last night, would this have any affect on receivers etc.?
Russ
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Never had a problem cant see it a problem either
Stavros
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Radio waves are not really affected by temperature but I would check your batteries O0
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Yep - I did a TV shoot in an curling rink once. The normally "good for two hours" batteries were fading after ten minutes, even when brought in on full charge. The worst thing was, in this ten minutes the warm batteries slurped any moisture out of the air and this condensed on the tape heads. :embarrassed:
I'd definitely take the batteries out of the boat for a good charge - and leave them out until next time you need them.
Andy
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Dreadnought has hit the nail on the head with the worst enemy- condensation. Lots of pages in Model Engineer a few years ago about tools in garage going rusty very quickly. Ultimate outcome for a lathe bed (only for size comparison) was to put a "tent" over it and use a PIANO heater. Stop larfing, in the days of proper pianos, pre namby pamby central heating, pirannas used to go off tune due to cold weather on cast iron frames. the way to combat this was to use a small electric heater inside the casing. These things were SPECIFICALLY made for this job and cost about a penny a day to run, about 40 to 60W they kept a DRY but not HOT ambient temp. could be an answer if your worried, otherwise try to negotiate with SWMBO for internal dry dock for winter?
Ian.
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Does sound like cold battereis.
Keep them indoors and then your trouser pocket until needed.
This deep chilling of the battery takes a few hours so from pocket to boat should not be a problem.
I imagine a light bulb, suitable protected (inspection lamp) would do the same job as the piano heater, if you cannot find one.
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Generally speaking, cold will sap practical battery capacity as photographers in arctic regions know. Warm them up and they are back to normal.
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One cold winters day at the pondside I kept a spare battery in my jeans pocket. After a while I remarked how it had warmed up - cue odd looks from the others.
I looked down and there was a hole in my jeans with smoke pouring out!
The battery had shorted on a coin!
so, BEWARE! :embarrassed:
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Your electronics will just fine at these temperatures and will withstand severely low temps way below anything we experience in the uk. As the other chaps have already stated, watch out for your batteries, especially lead acid types. Keep them indoors if possible and don't allow them to go flat. The dreaded condensation is as stated, a real enemy so avoid situations where this can form on anything that doesn't like wet stuff. If your subs are sealed up as they normally would be anyway, you shouldn't have to worry about them regardless of conditions but obviously don't leave ballast tanks full of water where there is a possibility of freezing as ice expands as it melts and if it has nowhere to expand to, it could rupture a tank.
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Apparently NICADs like the cold but lead acid and Lithium based cells prefer to be kept warm. Not too sure about NiMh though. A few years ago the Li-ion pack in my camcorder gave up the ghost after a very short time on a cold January day.
Neil
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Beware the dreaded Black Wire Rot, which happens in such conditions. I did read a treatise on it once but I forget what the reason is - something to do with oxidation due to electrolysis? Anyway, if you leave your radio gear out in the cold and damp there's a chance that the negative battery leads will corrode underneath the PVC insulation. I'd recommend either taking the packs indoors during winter months or at least unplugging them from the rest of the radio - and that includes the ones inside the transmitters. I'd also endorse what's been said about not letting them go flat.
FLJ
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HI GUYS.....funny you should mention this ...but last sunday took springer and sun xx1 tugs to the lake for a spin...as i said on another thread it was CCCCOLLDDDD!!!!!the lake was frozen solid and it got thicker the further out you went....anywho we finally managed to break an area big enough to sail in and both tugs were giving problems until they had been running for a little while . this was not battery problems but response to radio commands.....slow to respond to reverse in particular......both tugs were on 27 megs....different frequencies and different esc's...as i said they both seemed to cure themselves after a few minutes running
strange!!!! the answer is out there somewhere !
regards bob.
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Are you running with gel cell on drive and nicads for radio or have you a BEC.
Peter
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they both seemed to cure themselves after a few minutes running
strange!!!! the answer is out there somewhere !
Grease in the propshafts warming up and turning back into fluid?
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hi all
i work in my garage as well and keep all batts and radio gear in polestyrene boxes with lids
and no problems at all
madmax
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Hi guys....sorry about the delay.....both tugs using bec no seperate batteries
no grease in shafts...both run oilers.........different recievers as well.......one futaba......one hitec....
strange eh !!
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But you should know by now that Wat Tyler has some very strange goings on with regards radio gear.I never have a problem up here but as soon as I use the set at the lake,I get problems and I am on 40meg.
Now was it a Case of someone out there with a CB possible cos you on 27
Stavros
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HELLO DAVE.......It might be although i never have problems with the 40 meg ......it might possibly be the worm hole leading to an alternative dimension thats located just in front of the light house.........seriously though it might possibly be the m odel boat pond in the museum......they are on 27 meg
regards.....bob.
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A piano heater?
Aw, dudes, I'm a guitar sort of bloke. Love anyone who can master the art of piano'ing. But a piano heater?
I'm intrigued. Does a piano need some sort of heater in there in order to keep it in tune or something?
Please help, I'm intrugued.
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Cast iron piano?
Now I'm really intrigued.
Circlip, tell more about this cast-iron piano heater gizmo of yours.
What?... when?... how?.............
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Cast iron piano?
Now I'm really intrigued.
Circlip, tell more about this cast-iron piano heater gizmo of yours.
What?... when?... how?.............
Try this link, dear boy. I'm also interested in one. This could get seriously trendy!
http://www.pianocoversonline.co.uk/m215dampchaser-p-105.html
FLJ
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A bit expensive! Try Googling "tubular heaters" for more economical versions. They are used in many places for background heating - I have a 120w version in my workspace (shed). It keeps the frost off and with some condensation absorbers keeps things dry.
Barrie
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Thanks, Barrie. I've had a look at some of the websites which came up, but it's the low power of these things that interests me. The application I'm thinking about will be inside a run of cupboards, to prevent condensation. I'd thought of using a light bulb or bulbs, but I don't want the light shining through the gaps around the doors at night. This could be the solution.
Anyway, "the business" is paying for it!!
FLJ
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Years ago when I looked after a bunch of rural telephone exchanges, the racks had a tubular heater each, rated at 50W. For cupboards you could probably do the same with low power tungsten bulbs, but put light guards over them. OK as long as tungsten bulbs are available.
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PMK, read my post slooowly, now we're well into the new year {-) The string frame on the old upright pirrana's were made from cast iron. ALL metals expand and contract due to differences in temperature, so the tuning is affected. In an attempt to keep a stable ambient temperature, these heaters were used, and obviously still are. The humidifier seems strange, but thinking about it logically, in the land of Skippy and Tinnies you have to keep the moisture content of the woodwork up. Suppose it's the same where poor old Footsie lives - Don't it make your heart bleed? ::) {-) {-) FLJ, if your going to use this for commercial gain ( NO I DON'T WANT A CUT) Watch out for the Elfins and insurance sharks, they'll probably want you to fit auto powder extinguishers and steel shutters in case your premises catch fire and release toxins for miles around.
See you missed out on the big ring for the new year FLJ >>:-( >>:-( {-) {-) {-)
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FLJ, if your going to use this for commercial gain ( NO I DON'T WANT A CUT) Watch out for the Elfins and insurance sharks, they'll probably want you to fit auto powder extinguishers and steel shutters in case your premises catch fire and release toxins for miles around.
See you missed out on the big ring for the new year FLJ >>:-( >>:-( {-) {-) {-)
Thanks for the excuse for Post #500. I only said da business was paying for it.................. ;) As for "commercial gain", get real! If we were relying on this for an income then we'd be in trouble.
FLJ
(Yep - that's all the rings, innit?)
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You sly B****R, missed that one {-) {-) But it wasn't LAST YEAR. ::)
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Used to use light bulbs in a biscuit tin for heating trays of photgraphic developer - another hobby the younger generation have replace with computerisation.
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PMK, read my post slooowly, now we're well into the new year {-)
Yeah, you're right. Makes loads more sense that way.
But little did I know that pianos had cast iron metalwork in them. For some reason I just assumed that all pianos frames were wood, wood and more wood. I guess even wood expands and contracts, but it never occured that you'd need a heater in there. On reflection it makes perfect sense. Thanks for the heads-up.
Pianos are great instruments. And what REALLY fascinates me is how you play them. I mean, you have BOTH hands dancing up and down all over the keys. How do you DO that? Guitars are dead easy in comparison, so anyone who plays piano is a genius in my book. Sticking me in front of a piano is akin to sticking a computer keyboard in front of a monkey. I can just about find my way around middle C, but that's as far as it goes. You guys that use BOTH hands while tickling them ivories, making all them harmonies.......... Like I said, pure genius.
Pse 'scuse my ignorance regarding that heater scene.
By the by, I recall some old gadgy coming to our infant school to tune the hall piano. I seem to remember him spending AGES on getting it right. Was only 5-yrs-old at the time, and the first time I'd seen the innards of a piano. 'Twas an all-wood job. I don't recall seeing any piano heater, but that school hall was bloody freezing in the winter.
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A bit OT from boats, but the question's been aksed.
Upright and Grand acoustic pianos have cast iron frames to bear the tension of all those strings. The wooden soundboards of very, very old pianos couldn't take much strain and the pianos were therefore rather quiet. Iron frames let the makers put in longer, thicker strings and then crank them up much tighter for a bigger sound. In days of old they were sometimes even advertised as 'upright iron grands' or something equally misleading.
The object in question in the post - ie the piano heater - used to be called the Dampp Chaser, but now seems to have been 'upgraded' to the 'Humidistat'. My old mates at Fletcher-Newman still sell them. http://www.fletcher-newman.co.uk/catalogue/heaters_humidifiers/m220u.html
Incidentally, it wasn't damp that was the real enemy of older pianos. Central heating dried the air too much and you had to have a Humidifier fitted. This was a bar that you soaked in the bath, then wiped off and hung on two hooks inside the front of the joanna. The evaporation was enough to keep the air inside the piano just right. Every few weeks you'd dip the bar back in the bath for a top-up.
Good quality pianos from the late 60's onwards were designed and built with central heating in mind, but I can recall selling one or other of the devices with every piano back then. It all added on to my sales figures! {-)
I guess this new fangled humidity control can regulate things both ways.
Andy
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Excuse me but what the heck has PIANO'S got to do with the effect of cold weather on electronics the mind boggles ::)
Stavros
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Think it's lateral thinking. You know, that thing that women are good at. ::)
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well it certantly aint cold weather is it >>:-(
stavros
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Stav, I think it's summat to do with thermal molecule flow.
(Don't ask -- I robbed it from those 'How To Increase Your Word Power" pages in Reader's Digest.)