So I put this build on hold while getting my other ships ready for battles, and for battles themselves. Looking to resume and finish the build up, not a whole lot left to do. Started on wiring, made the aft solenoid leads with diodes last night at Marty’s. I tested out the weight with all major components. Came out to 23 lbs 13 oz, max is 26 something, so will be tight Checked the trim by placing the boat on a 1x2 to see where the center of gravity is, and compare that to what I measured at the beginning of the build for center of flotation. Overall looking good Insides, kind of dark. Pump batteries It will be crowded, not quite as bad as Seydlitz, forward batteries for drive, 1 per motor, 4s 4 Ah, will also supply control power I quickly jotted down the wiring plan, just to be sure I had it set. Wiring will be essentially the same as Seydlitz, just going to make it a little more flexible to be able to swap pump control from 12v to 6v as desired. Control box is modular, pulled from Missouri for testing, same as box in Seydlitz for quick swapping Plan is to do the main harness tomorrow AM, shouldn’t take too long, then will be able to test out control
I wondered what happened to her, thought you may have gave up on it. Joel down in Atlanta has one, last time he came he used it, did not do so well, could not turn pretty much at all. We shot it up a will. Yours will be better of course, he made his years ago, it needed a refit about 10 or 12 years ago, lol.
Yeah, she got moved to the back burner once I figured out I would only be battling in the NE for most of this year, she wouldn't match up well against the small NE axis boats, I'm hoping that she will be OK as a stern to stern slugger with all the guns back there and 1.5 pumps. I think the turning will be similar to my Seydlitz, which isn't great but also not terrible. Agincourt is about an inch longer but has a significantly bigger rudder at class 5. She will probably be able to turn tight-ish, pretty slowly, like other single rudder class 5's I made a little progress today on wiring. I made up the main hookup for the 12V which just goes between the ESC and battery, with taps off for control power to guns and pump. I also made up the test switches for the stern guns. These will be attached to the top of the box (Gooped probably) and will move with the box. I have a similar setup in Seydlitz but I don't think I have those switches as detachable from the rest of the harness, so I'll need to add some connectors at some point. Pay no attention to the connector / wiring arrangement here, it is abnormal out of context. The bottom two connectors go off to the negative side of each of the 4 aft solenoids, two of the signals pass through (I like to have 2 wires on my connectors for robustness), the other two go to the board, which is a split signal from the box and gun board. The top two connectors will go to the box and the rest of the harness. This is the wire I've used on my last several builds. Typical silicone flexible wire, it has a very good strand count. I get it on amazon in different gauges, colors, and lengths, decent price. Just posting for those that are less familiar with where to find wire Moving forward, the pump wiring will be pretty easy, I will put the two 15Ah 2S batteries in parallel and send them to two 40A relays to control power to the pump. To do this I will make an 'X' with the wires. I will put them in parallel so if I'm only running 1 pump then it will draw from both batteries, vice discharging one battery a lot (for the full unit pump) and one battery not so much (half unit). I will also have a control power tap off to give me a 6V power source if desired for pump relays (if I hook up auto switches, that are 6V) The remainder of the main harness is just putting the spaghetti together, I need to make a lead for the forward solenoid, a lead for the two pump control lines, then tie in the positives that run direct to the solenoids. I told myself that I would try to make cleaner wiring in my builds moving forward, but I'll probably just do this one the same as my others without any bus bars, and stick to a few Y connections as needed to split the +. I'll think about it over the next few days, and maybe plug away a bit throughout the week
Here is my Bismarck wiring, all in this area in view, except for the 4 lines running to the solenoids. Tried to keep it as neat as possible. Did not need test switches, running dual CO2 system, so can just use the radio. And you can see the new gasket material I found, made of cork, and rubber, with adhesive on one side, just stick it on, and trim with a razor knife to size. 100 ft for $18 McMaster-Carr
Very nice Dave, your boats are the gold standard for clean wiring. I think it would be helpful if you posted more pictures of the assembly process of your power distribution. Using the new integrated BC board also helps a good deal. Are you running each battery cell individually to the row of connectors on the right side there?
I'm using a 10 volt system, I think the ESC's run hotter at 6 volts, plus can have a tendency to reset if the voltage drops too much. Also I needed more weight in the boat, so 9 cells of batteries. Still less than 7 pounds total, , hard to believe, but I have quite a few of the 10 amp cells, and did not want to spend more money on the 15 amp batteries, so I wired them together in 3 groups of 3 in series, and put those 3 in parallel to the output. So it has 30 amps, at 10 volts. Keeps the wiring down, but I had to add the jumpers, or rewire all the batteries to reach the connectors, much easier to make 9 jumpers. Color coded in groups of 3. That way to test on the bench, only need to plug in 3 batteries. Also after I found the most amazing thing by accident, the 3 drive motors are only drawing a little over 5 amps total on brushed motors. As soon as I speed test and slow it down some, I think it will be under 5 amps. You can see the main drive motor in the picture is only a 550 class motor, and it only get slightly warm, turning a 2.4 inch prop, on a 2:1 gearbox.
Yep. The micro controller (MC) in an ESC will be running at 5v or 3.3v (depending on design). The onboard voltage regs in these ESC's will have a dropout voltage of 1.7 volts or so (lets just call it 2v). That means, to reliably provide enough V to run the MC you will need to supply the device with 2v above the MC's rated operating voltage. That would be 5.3 or 7v depending on your controller. You can start to see the reason why some ESC's are flaky at 6v and some work OK. Knowing this, you can also see why 7.2v battery packs have been the norm in R/C for years now. 7.2v is enough voltage overhead to keep the ESC's and RX's running during voltage drops.
I saw your post a little back in this thread Kevin about attaching magnets. I don't know what I do wrong, I have tried just about every adhesive, JB weld, you name it, and within a few battles they keep falling off. Just the banging over and over again I guess. Came up with a new method, should stay on forever. Drill and tapped the T, and used red lock tight on a ring magnet. Holds the BB just fine, fired a few 100 bb's and have had no issues with any of the guns. Stainless screws.
I attach magnets with CA first to get the correct position, then use Steve's go to E6000 or Goop around the magnet and to the T body on both sides. Magnets on the Rivadavia have been on for 8ish years without issue
Some stayed with glue, others did not. Cleaned with alcohol. Maybe Rum was not the right type to use?
Some more soldering, I made the pump ‘X’ with 12ga, and a connection for 6v control power of desired Might get to the rest of the smaller connections later this weekend
Thanks Dave, but that ship has sailed. Back at it again. Decided to try to get this one into an event or two this year, since I plan on building new for next year haha. This boat is designed to go against larger axis, and there aren’t many of those up my way Finished wiring the other night. Had a plan drawn out, but lots of interconnections to integrate with control box. Here are the little wires Connected Tested everything out, all the clicks clicked. It’s always nerve racking plugging in for the first time Next day I made little T fittings for guns. Buying clippard fittings adds up, so I decided to give these a shot. Here is the process. Start with 1/4” stock and 3/32 tube Drill holes before cutting, easy to hold Cut pieces up Next I prepped silver solder rolls to go over the tubes, makes getting good coverage easy. I roll around something of same diameter Then snip each circle Next I get ready to solder the first piece, prepped with flux Quick hit with mini torch Then drill through top Hit with torch again Then clean up tube ends, drill out tubes Pleased with how they came out Did a few little things today. Cannab-ed barrels Bow Assembled pumps, pleased with layout, pumps dry run test SAT Outlet tubes In place, mini set up from Missouri Tested weight 35 lbs with two drive batteries. I think I will be going to brushes drive, I was happy with performance on Seydlitz so I will use it here. That will get down to one drive battery and save a pound. Will be making superstructure this weekend, installing CO2 hoses, dummy barrels, barrel holders, try to pick up some CO2 to test guns, install drive motors, and should be close to sea trials status
Kevin, have you thought about training your aft side-mounts forward at 45 degrees to give some coverage to your sides? I tried that with HMS Courageous 2 decades ago when it had 2 x 1.5 unit cannons under local rules; bow turret trained back at 45 degrees and stern turret trained forward at 45 degrees. Best gun arrangement the 2 turret ship had in a few years of use.
All this building has been getting in the way of typing time. Hopefully the dark lord will forgive me Made barrel holders And dummy barrels, just using dowels on this one since weight is a concern, normally use SS drilled holes, will bolt through deck Started on superstructure. I typically delay this step to the very end, but its nice when it starts looking like a ship Dremeled edges to fit in first level 1/4" balsa to hold at correct level next level And deck with turrets. All dry fits here Whole thing. A long boat Barrel holders, not drilled yet Drilled holes for tripod and other mast. Will glue in place tomorrow probably Not pictured, I hooked up gun hoses, will need to do the main hoses but those should be quick. Motors should arrive mid week, need to change connectors on ESC and drop in motors. A couple internal mounts/guides for box and forward battery. Need to get CO2 to test out guns. Planning for a float with the aft superstructure. Paint deck and superstructure, gun pins and barrel condoms. Sea trials next weekend, should be done it time for battle
Worked on the bridge today. Kinda delayed this one for a bit based on having to figure out hole locations, and poor plans that were essentially useless for this part. I found a good set of pictures of a decent model online that worked as a reference. Late day at work limited building, hopefully get home earlier tomorrow and finish/epoxy most superstructure Closer up. Should be good enough Need to add the blocks at the top, and the stack
Plugging away at superstructure. Mid portion, will be float holder Front is curved for swing of barrels. 1/16 ply bent into shape, will hit it with fiberglass on inside to improve strength/survivability Worked on bridge It’s coming along. I lost momentum to get it all coated tonight, will complete tomorrow. I have Friday off, plan will be work to completion if possible. Motors, pinions and ESCs showed up over past couple days, so a small amount of soldering and motor install
