Took the sub to the lake today for it's 2nd sail under my ownership, to test out the OTW sub leveller. Even with a new 12v battery it seems pretty slow, but worst was when it went to the bottom and wouldn't come back up...
Borrowing some waders I went out and collected it, and found that both ends of the WTC were almost completely full of water! Managed to loosen the end caps and drain most of the water out at the lakeside. Once home I took it all apart to see what the damage was, and what the cause was...
Reason it went down was simple, the pipe from the pump to the ballast tank had popped off the connection to the ballast tank, so when I was flooding the tank, I was in fact flooding the front section of the WTC. Damage caused, all 4 servos are knackered, as is the RX. Thankfully the ESC, failsafe unit, sub leveller and motors have survived.
Now a couple of questions, firstly regards a replacement RX. I'm using a Futaba F-14, the now deceased RX was a Futaba 7 or 8 channel unit. I've got some 'Cirrus' 4 channel RX's spare, but the aerial on them is a lot shorter than on the Futaba, anyone know if this will cause issues with running under water? Or is it possible to extend the aerial?
Secondly, what are people's opinions on what size motors should be fitted to a Sheerline Type VII it's around 5'6" long. It's got 2 Graupner speed 500's at the moment, but like I say, it seems underpowered, probably not even getting up to scale speed even on full power.
Next issue (which may be resolved having to fit new servos and RX) is that the more I use the dive planes and rudders, the less they move, until I try and use them and they didn't move at all. I've not idea what could cause this, anyone any ideas?
And lastly, while I'm fitting new bits in it I was going to tidy up the wiring a bit, but as in the photos in 1 of my previous posts above, there are what appear to be several capacitors fitted. One goes from the + to - where the power splits to the ESC and the pump. And then there's 3 or 4 more on various wires around the ballast pump. I can't see why they'd be needed, as surely the pump can just take power direct from the battery?
Thanks.