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Author Topic: How do i dim lights on baitboat  (Read 10338 times)

chale02

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How do i dim lights on baitboat
« on: January 17, 2009, 01:32:37 pm »

Hi all iam new to forum and new to boat modeling Ive got a angling technics microcat bait boat which some of you may or may not no. Ive striped boat down rewired all lighting with new LED's 6 in total What i would like to do is dim lights from handset. The handset i have got is a futaba skysports 4 t4VF 40MHz I would also like a low battery warning light that cut in at 11.4v if possible sorry if there is a lot of questions but just want this boat to be spot on. Any more info anybody needs i will try and give   

Thank you for any replies in advance

Chris
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cos918

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2009, 02:30:54 pm »

Hi there Led usual are on or off there,s not relay a half way dim light. There are high power extra bright led like you find in a torch and then there low power dull ones. I have not seen an led that gos from bright to dull. Yes if you run an led on very low voltage from it max voltage there's a bit of a drop in brightness but not a lot.
 If you want to go from bright to dull you have 2 options.
1 Replace all led with bulbs.
2. put in 2 lots of led , IE for the port light you would have 2 red led one bright one dull. They would be on to different circuits and you just switch on what you want.

To do it from the hand set is not to hard . On one of the spare channels use a servo to operate  a switch that will control the lights.

As for low battery warning. You will need to find a circuit that monitors battery voltage i would try mapling. There is another option. Measure the amps of your motors on max load.
So for example motor max 4ah X2 =8AH lights = .5 ah so total power is 8.5ah . Battery is 7 ah so you can expect it to last about 45 min approx;s. So after 30 min bring the boat in and measure the battery voltage.

john
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andyn

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2009, 03:43:02 pm »

Dimming lights - put a tiller arm on a variable resistor, soldered in between battery and led's, connect to servo et voila, dimming lights. Just find an extra propotional channel to put them on.

Andy :-))
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chale02

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2009, 05:17:53 pm »

Thanks for replies guys bit lost as i said no not a lot about r/c boats At the moment on handset the right side stick operatats forward reverse left and right The left hand side move to left right hopper opens move to right both hoppers open stick down is lights off stick up is lights on So am i right i thinking i don't have a spare channel to put a servo on and if i did are you saying put a arm onto a variable resister and servo would move it to drop voltage to lights therefore dimming them Does it matter what type of variable resistor i put on Ive one more question the boat runs on pumps and you have to prime them each time you put it into water By this i mean put boat into water lift back of boat clear of water press the on button till water flows out of pumps If you just try and put in water without doing this boat will not move think it is like air locked All microcats do this apart From new Mk2 which thay have sorted this problem out Is there any way i could get pumps to self prime Was thinking drilling a hole in side of pump mounting a tube to it with a one way valve to let air out when you put boat into water Could this work or am i totally wrong i what iam thinking Thanks again for replies any more help would be great

Chris 
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chale02

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2009, 06:01:08 pm »

Been looking around on web and i think ive found pumps what are in my baitboat think thay are these if this helps anybody
http://www.jabscoshop.com/article.asp?ls=&v=CE3D7FD4FE2242C49619E0A929EB8B9F&override=1&title=jabscoshop%3A-About+Submersible+Pumps

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malcolmfrary

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2009, 01:08:12 pm »

Feed the LEDs through a forward only ESC.  Control will not be perfect, but you will get proportional control of brightness on the stick you are using now to switch them on and off.
Using a variable resistor is tricky, as very few are designed to handle the kind of power that even LEDs work with.  The ones that can will probably be in the same price range as a low price ESC.
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Shipmate60

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2009, 01:26:43 pm »

Malc,
Dont the ESC's work by pulsing the full voltage?
Wouldnt an old resistor type speed which reduces the voltage be more suitable?
The car ones work in 3 stages.

Bob
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malcolmfrary

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2009, 05:59:43 pm »

Bob
Yes they would, but finding one that is certain to work is the problem. 
The ESC, giving out a mark-space pulse train as it does, has the advantage in that it will regulate a little or a lot, it doesn't care.  A resistor controller for motors has to be closely matched to its load to offer control.  Too much resistance, there is no response until the throttle is wide open, then just full speed, if the resistance is too low, then full speed happens as soon as the throttle is off normal.  The same with lights, but read brightness for speed.  The controller resistance for motors is likely to be way too low to be of use with LEDs.

The LEDs will shine with full brightness while they are switched on, but as the "off" period is longer, so they will appear dimmer.  If you mulitiplex an LED display, you have to offer a scary amount of current to get the elements bright enough.
If it was a kit ESC with a relay for reverse, it would just need the relay coil connection to be missed to prevent reverse happening, which would likely be tragic for the LEDs.
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chale02

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2009, 08:57:07 pm »

Thanks for replies guys but you are losing me fast i don't no where the esc is Maybe better to take photos of what is in there so thay can be identified I'll try and explane what is in there There is a box with 13wires coming from it 2 for LEDs 1pos 1neg 2 switch 1aerial 3right these go to a box that is mounted in middle of the two pumps on right 3left these go to again middle of pump box.
From the two boxers that are mounted above pumps there is pos neg wires that go to batts 2 pos wires that goes to hopper control wire pos neg from both pumps and as said before 3 wires that go to box at front Can not get into these two boxers as that are in potting compond.

thank you all for helping me out leaning more i hope

Chris
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malcolmfrary

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2009, 11:03:06 am »

Hi Chris
The ESC I mentioned would have been an extra to provide remote control of brightness.  If remote control is not required you will need to just insert a resistor in one of the leads feeding the LEDs.  Once the current being taken by the LEDs is known, and how they are configured, and how much you want to dim them, a sensible guess at the resistor type and value can be made.
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chale02

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2009, 07:36:22 pm »

thank you for explaining things to me but yes i do want remote control of LEDs if poss so i can dim them from handset
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malcolmfrary

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2009, 12:50:29 pm »

What type of receiver is fitted?
If it is a "normal" type, with controllers plugged into it, the job is simple - unplug the existing light controller and replace it with an ESC, modified so it won't kill the LEDs with reverse voltage, or a servo working a dimmer switch arrangement.
If it is a "special" with everything on one integrated panel, the only way is to replace the radio installation with standard parts.
You mention various boxes. I assume that one of them has the aerial wire going in one end, and a row of four small three pin connectors  at the other end.  If so, this is the receiver.  One of the connectors (not familiar with four channel sets, so guessing) probably channel 1, is your light controller.
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chale02

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2009, 09:16:20 pm »

Hi Malcolm think it has a special one fitted so looks like live with lights as thay are or a new set up inside the boat witch just to get light to dim sounds if it could be expensive thanks for all your help
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chale02

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Re: How do i dim lights on baitboat
« Reply #13 on: January 23, 2009, 03:35:38 pm »

just to let you all no iam now sorted found a place that will make me a unit to dim lights from hand set if anyone wants to no it is
www.rclighting.net thay have a few nice lighting systems in  :-)
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