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Author Topic: HELP!!!!  (Read 4238 times)

dgp1957

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HELP!!!!
« on: September 30, 2010, 09:03:51 pm »

Guys any ideas what these components do, they are the dive system in a sub I bought  {:-{











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Subculture

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2010, 09:12:16 pm »

The pictures aren't the best (try setting the camera up on a tripod, use a slow exposure and no flash), and some close-ups of the print on the valves would enable a link to a datasheet.

However, I would say that you have four solenoid activated valves there. Two are for venting the tank to submerge, and two are for blowing the tanks from the on board air reservoirs, and it looks like they're 12 volt solenoids. Did the boat come with the kit to control them?

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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2010, 09:15:03 pm »

No nothing came with it to show me what they are or how they operate, I was thinking of maybe trying servo switched micro switches
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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2010, 09:18:42 pm »

Really discouraged with this, paid a lot of money for the boat  {:-{
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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2010, 09:23:51 pm »

Don't get discouraged- this hobby will try your patience believe me, but you will feel well rewarded when your boat works right.

A pair of microswitches fitted to a plate on a small servo will work fine. I'm not sure what the current draw for the solenoids is, but normal mini type micro switches should suffice.

Like I said some better pictures of the valves especially the legending on them would help no end.
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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2010, 09:30:42 pm »

Thanks, would that be a pair of icro switches for each solenoid? I'll get some more pics up soon  :-))
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gyronuts

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2010, 09:57:02 pm »

looks like a quality item to me. Keep calm and persevere ...it pays dividends. Bill
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Subculture

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2010, 10:07:01 pm »

No, you should need just a single pair for all four solenoids. Looking at your pictures, it appears your Oscar class has twin tanks (hence the reason for twin sets of valves perhaps?) set-up in a left and right configuration. If this is the case, then you would want to activate either the vent or blow solenoids together.
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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2010, 10:15:50 pm »

Sorry to be a pain, would the vent solenoids be the ones on the ballast tank at the rear of the picture?
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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2010, 10:21:04 pm »

Sorry guys forgot I got this from Antoine earlier on via email:


The technical summary about your model :
 
The model works with compressed air. You will have to fill the air tanks with the included compressor, and with the help of the onboard manometers you will fill at 8 bars max the 2 tanks. You'll get enough air to run your boat confortably.
All the diving system works with electronic valves, each one needs to be fed with 12V, when they are connected to the electric system, they will open, when they are off, they are closed.
 
The ballast tank is connected to 4 valves, 2 to dive and 2 to surface. Why 2 ?? Because it will add precision for the diving and surfacing ; if you had only 1 valve you could not precisely trim the submarine to get a neutral buoyancy.
How to do ? To dive, you first need to open the 2 valves and when the deck is awashed, you closed one to dive slowly. Same for surfacing, you first open 1 valve to avoid bumping out of the water like a buoy...when the sail surfaced you can finish to blow the ballast tank with the second valve.
 
Except this particular system, you'll need a conventionnal radio system with free channels :
 
one channel (or two if you want separate motor control) for the motors
one channel for the rudder
one channel for the rear diving planes
(optional) one channel for the bow planes retractable mechanism (in and out)
(optional) one channel for the bow planes (up and down)
2 channels to surface
2 channels to dive
 
The 4 channels for the diving system only need to be on/off channel (not proportionnal).
 
The option of the bow planes is really nice, the mechanism and bow planes is of course included (custom made by Scaleships)
 
So the best is to get a radio system that have 4 proportionnal channels and 4 on/off channels (5 is better if you want the bow planes working). Graupner, Robbe (Futaba) have such radio on the market.
 
Finally, you'll need a classic battery charger. The battery included with your sub are NiMh type (12V).


Any help folks?

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Subculture

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2010, 10:36:31 pm »

That explanation makes things a lot simpler. Yes I would say the vent solenoids are the ones in the first picture you posted, but it should be easy to confirm- trace the piping leading from the tank to the valve, and then see where the piping leads from there- it should lead outside to allow the tanks to vent to the atmosphere. The blow solenoids should lead from the air reservoir tanks to the top of the ballast tank.

Bearing in mind what Antoine said, if you want to replicate that system, you will need two servos and two pairs of micro switches and these should be fed from separate channels on your radio. One channel will be set to switch the left hand side solenoids, the other the right hand side.

This is a straightforward ballast system, I would advise you to trim your boat so that it remains slightly positively buoyant e.g. just the top of the sail poking above the waters surface with the ballast tank fully flooded.

Also bear in mind that if you intend to run this at shows or in a public space I think you will need a boiler certificate (check I may be mistaken here) for this system as 8 bar is quite a high pressure.
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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2010, 10:39:20 pm »

Thanks, thats a great help  :} I will look into the boiler certificate issue  :}
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gingyer

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2010, 10:45:53 pm »

Davie,
her is the link for boiler info that the insurance the federation supply require
http://www.sfmbc.net/Fed_Boiler_test.pdf

I saw it the other day glad it isn't me working it all out :-))

when will you have this one sailing?

Colin
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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #13 on: September 30, 2010, 10:51:13 pm »

Heres some pics of the whole thing mate :








As son as I get the micro switches mate  :-))
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gingyer

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #14 on: September 30, 2010, 10:57:20 pm »

looks nice
something else in greenock for my Cornwall to hunt down and sink O0
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dgp1957

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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #15 on: September 30, 2010, 11:02:36 pm »

HeHe need to find me first lol
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Re: HELP!!!!
« Reply #16 on: October 01, 2010, 11:03:40 am »

You may get through with a loophole in the law regarding the tanks, as they look to me to be of the disposable (aerosol) type repainted to look like hydrogen bombs or something.

You can use micro switches and servos to switch the solenoids or relay switchers or solid state (transistorized) switchers. Microswitches are cheapest.

I have some neat little micro switches which switch up to 1A which should be ample for solenoids. These can be actuated by a mini servo (or a full size one if space isn't an issue). If you PM me your address I'll post you out some.
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