I'm still working on my class 4 battleship USS Utah, and I'm at the point that I need the batteries, however I have no electronic experiance whatsoever. What would be a good battery for Utah? Also, I have a hardware kit from Battlers Connection and will be ordering a 5 channel Spektrum DX5e radio, but besides these and the batteries are there any other electronic parts I will need? I noticed the Strike Models hardware kits had more parts than the Battlers Connection (will probably order from Strike in the future).
Get as much battery as you can given the weight and space you have, thats generally the rule of thumb. Most class 4 ships I've seen are in the 14-24 AH range depending on ship size and battery technology used. If you have the money you can cram a lot of NiMh batteries into a hull but thats not very cheap. SLAs are heavier and bigger but a lot cheaper. If you're going NiMh I'd go with 2 6V or 7.2V 10AH packs. If you're going with SLAs see if you can fit 2 6V 12AH blocks, but that might be to heavy/big so you might have to go with 2 6V 7,8, or 9 AH packs depending on what you have the space/weight for. You also need suitable chargers for whatever batteries you get. Other electronics, mostly this depends on how you are setting the ship up. If you're using poppet vales for the guns, a microswitch throttle, and a switch for the pump then you just need the switches and the servos. If you're using an ESC for the throttle and solenoids for the guns youll need either switches for the solenoids or solid state firing boards, the pump can be run off a relay board, so you'd need all that stuff. How are you planning on setting up the controls? Im guessing you are planning on using the switches in the BC kit to run the throttle? If so those and a servo are all you need for the throttle. If you dont already have the servos/switch for the pump I'd reccommend getting the relay switch (RCE210) over at Team Delta, little more expensive than a servo/switch combo but easier to waterproof and not really that pricey. The Team Delta RCE200L's work well for controling solenoids if you're going with them, you can also control them with a servo and microswitches if you want, but the RCE200Ls are better. (faster, easier to waterproof, smaller/lighter) Let us know more about the specifics of what you have planned and we can help you achieve that.
Due to being a rather small ship and being made of wood, there is not a whole lot of room inside. I'm not sure if weight will be a problem or not yet. I'm still in upper highschool so I don't have a lot of money to work with but I'd still rather pay more have the ship work better rather than paying less and running into problems. I'm really not very sure how I'm setting up the ship, the whole electronics deal is very new to me and I'm learning as I go. The only running gear I have so far is the hardware kit. Since this is my first ship and only single guns will be firing, I was planning on using popits for the guns. Do they come with the gun kit? I don't have plans for setting up the controls yet as I was planning to firgure that out once I have them. Yes I'm going to use the switches in the BC hardware kit. As for my specific plans, there isn't much else. Other than I'll be using the BC hardware kit, 5 channel Spektrum DX5e radio, a Srike models gun kit, and a BC pump. Like I said above, I'm learning and figuring it out as I go. Thanks for the tips.
I've asked Stephen to chime in on this thread. He got in a shipment last week of batteries (Lithium Iron Phosphate) that are lighter than most batteries, and may fit better in the smaller ships. We don't have anything up on the web about them yet though.
Stephen showed me a battery he had at Nats, incased in a stainless steel waterproof case, but said he was having a problem getting them ship in. Good to know they finally arrived. Has he decided what the cost of them will be, if they are the same as the one he showed me?
I'd reccommend going with SLAs, you should have enough space/weight to make them work, especially if you are going with the bulged version. NiMh's and Lithium Iron Phosphate's are nice but I doubt that they are worth the added expense for you, unless you already have some or the right chargers, batteries, or whatever. Guns - The gun kits avaliable come with poppets. Here I'd reccommend spending the extra money and getting solenoids and team delta boards. They are expensive (~$45-$75 per gun depending on setup vs ~$20 per gun with a servo/poppet) but they make plumbing the boat much easier and offer greater performance. Then again you can always go with poppets now and upgrade to solenoids later. With the setup you're using the controls arent to bad, wiring up the throttle can be tricky but there should be enough online diagrams on boat sites and of H-Bridge's in general that you can get it working right.
Hello, Yes, the stainless steel cased batteries finally came in after months of transit and other fun. I picked up the armored cells along with a variety of smaller cells and battery chargers. We just took pictures of them and will have them on the web shortly. These new cells are of a new chemistry: LiFePO4 (also known as Lithium Iron or LiFe). They operate at a nominal 3.2 volts (so most people will want two of them in series) and have one of the flattest discharge curves out there (under a constant load, the cells maintain voltage over about 85% of the usable charge of the cell). They have a higher energy density than NiMH but less than Li-ion. Unlike the other Lithium chemistries, they do not burst into flame when looked at funny. They can be shorted, crushed, punctured or sheared without runaway heating (these will likely destroy the cell, though). The cell chemistry is safe past 500 C. If your ship gets hotter than this, the batteries are the least of your worries. The LiFePO4 cells come in sizes ranging from AA to D to F and M cells sizes. In early October, I put cells from three manufacturers into a bucket pond water for 20 minutes with no noticeable voltage differences. Advantages: Better energy density than NiMH and Lead Acid (3x energy /weight of lead acid) Much safer than other Lithium chemistries. Disadvantages: Requires a newer charger that supports these cells. (I have these now, the algorithm is being included in many newer smart chargers) Batteries are newer and more expensive. Should probably have a battery protection circuit to keep the individual cells charged above 2V. Lower voltages than this reduces the cycle lifespan of the battery. These circuits are available and I will have one of my own shortly. Mainly don't run them till their dead. Some of the cell sizes, capacities, and weights: AA 550 mAh 0.7 oz 18650 1500 mAh 1.5 oz 26650 3000 mAh 3.1 oz D 3000 mAh or 3500 mAh 4.4 oz F 5000 mAh 6.8 oz Armored cell 10 Ah, 15.2 oz (18mm x 82mm x 130mm) I hope this helps, Stephen Strike Models
Thanks for all the information and suggestions guys! I still have one question though, how would you suggest running the rudder? And do I need any other parts rather than those which came with the BC kit?
Rudders are controlled using a servo, either rotating a gear or by push rods. I'm not familiar with what comes in the BC hardware kit but I imagine it is designed for one of these two options. Here is a pic showing the servo and rudder gears for a VDT.
Hello there I would like to say we have a the Utah here running and battleing with 2 6volt 7 amp hr gell cell batteries. One is for the main drive and one runs the pump. The drive is 1 motor geared to 2 shafts with a 3 to 1 gear ratio and we still have had to use drag discs to slow her down. The main drive motor is a johnson 550, the pump is a small size useing a 385 sh mabutshi . Guns are fired useing poppet valves and a radio shack on off switch for the pump. This is the bulged version and she is a tough little ship to get a bead on. We used a servo to steer with useing simple ball joints on the arms, and a threaded rod to connect them. The ship is very manuverable and agile ! The new captain has had a ball with her and fought against the Tripitz and gave more got ! The wing casmates drew a lot of hits anad so did the stringer right above the water line but over all real daamage was very light. Buddy
Buddy - thanks for the update on your Utah. Snipe - the kit came with pushrods. Thanks for the info. I drilled holes for the prop shafts the other day and everything looked fine, but it wasn't until after I epoxyed the shafts in that I realized they were angled down. I've seen pictures of ships with angled shafts but since most don't I'm worried I may have made a fatal mistake.....is this a bad problem. If so I'm in a fix since the shafts aren't going anywhere.
No problem, I found a pic Stokomoto posted on his photobucket showing a pushrod setup if you wanted to see one of those as well since thats what youve got the stuff for. http://s243.photobucket.com/albums/...CN2236.jpg As for the shafts some down angle is ok, its hard to get them perfectly level, the question is of course how much. I'd guess probably less than 10 degrees is fine, but I dont really know what the upper limit would be. You can cut the shafts out and remount them, just takes a dremel and some patience to cut out the epoxy holding them in place without cutting the shafts in half. I've done it .... more than once.
I will finally be getting back to work on Utah this fall and have decided since I am low on funds that I am going to finish the ship and get her running unarmed before I add the gun system. Can someone give me a list of what parts I would need to get the ship running, besides those which came with the hardware kit (props, prop shafts, gearboxes, switches, rudder, rudder post, rudderpushrod, wiring) and the radio/receiver? Also information on where I could find the needed parts? Thanks for the help.
Props, Shafts, gearboxes, rudder, rudder post, rudder pushrod, 2 switches of some kind, motors, and some wiring. Plus I will have the radio and reciever (haven't bought that yet).
