Yes, that's the right wiring scheme. It may be possible to find a neater arrangement of wires, but I can't think of it off the top of my head. You might consider some of the small 4.5v motors, or maybe this: http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DCM-298/SMALL-POWERFUL-12VDC-MOTOR/1.html I noticed that they do have some 365-size motors, but they are wound for 24v, and will hardly even turn at 7.2v One other thing you may consider doing is getting a better universal joint between the motor and the propshaft. For the 3v shack motors, a short length of something like 1/16"ID gas line would work great. For motors with a larger shaft, RC car fuel line and/or vacuum hose does the trick. You may be getting a fair bit of friction from your universal joint. Wow, I loved mechwarrior 3! I never got to play online, but I would play large LAN games at computer camp over the summer. I had one mean AVATAR, and I also liked the Owens. My alias, kotori, is a kurita nickname for the Owens. The name has stuck for me, too
Mechwarrior! I played Ralph Reeds amiga version until the amiga was way way outdated... I still have the amiga in storage Have any of you guys seen the freeware MegaMech? I had a small bismark model much like that when I was little, used one motor and a spring soldered on as the universal joint. I think that for a small model, that 4 of the size motors shown will be fine with smaller props, but those look like they will be putting a good load on the small motors. The universal joint I've seen on some cheapy rc toys is shrink wrap... If it's warming and releasing due to friction it could be slipping due to that in addition to any electrical effects. I added the little servo collars on my liberty to make sure. Mike
Video uploading.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tojBvnOODTs although towards the end it looked like it was doing the same thing- it wasn't. This time the motor was spinning the entire time I engaged the throttle- in fact the universal connector began slipping off! Looks like I need something with a tighter grip. I'm worried though- this is 6 volts going across each motor which are rated for 3 volts max each. There was, however a "significant" difference. It didn't putter in between or slow down- it kept going. I played MechWarrior3 online back in the day when MSN was very popular for supporting online games. I stil have Wizkid miniatures of the Battletech table top game and I enjoy it occasionally. I have had a hard time finding people to play with- I don't have too many compadres and my roommate wasn't into it too much- and he was busy. I play myself a lot and it's weird- I shut my other side off so I can play as the opponent [] Somehow I do it without being biased towards any one side- I take any advantages to fire that I can get and I play smart.
booyah. YOU just need to reduce the voltage of the battery & increase the AH or increase the rating of the motors OR add an ESC.
I thought the torque was very powerful for one motor- I am going to go ahead and upgrade to all 6-12volt rated motors and I am going to add another 6 volts to the system. Should I add the batteries in parallel so that the system still is 6 volts? Also how can I make a battery pack? For now, since I am strapped for cash I may have to hold off on the motors- but I will try and yank them out later today and I will begin the model building stage. The rudder linkage shouldn't be a problem- that's where my mechanical engineering comes in. I will save the motors for other applications- after all I did pay some money for them. []
I would keep @ 6V. (radio rx works on 6V) I would forgo the other battery, until you realize you are under weight or low on run time. I would honestly consider an esc. it would fix your problem because you could dial in the volts to the motors & it would give you control over them on the water. Additionally, you could use the old servo controlled electric switch, but I think TCO (including your time fussing with it) will be lower with an esc. Again, I doubt you need bigger motors. You have four. Water is not like land, the only thing torque really gets you is pond scum mulching power. Which you don't really need. Bigger motors means more currrent, which means beefier esc & more AH batteries.
alright, there is one thing I kind of feel bad about but I must ask... what is an ESC and where can I get one? I have a hunch that it stands for electrical/electronic speed control? Should I crank it to 3 volts to be safe? and would 4volts cause them to burn out? An ESC sounds like the best solution to prevent a weight increase. The original idea between my roommate and I was that we were going to wire in a switch so that if I wanted to cut half the motors offline I could, but I'm not so sure it could be done now with everything in parallel (maybe? I would have to take a look at my wiring diagram). Originally, I planned on inserting another Rx on a different frequency, take apart the two controllers (their cheap and plastic anywhoo, one of those toy ones) and make them into one with two antannae sticking out. That fourth function (2nd steering mechanism) was to mechanically push that button on or off, but then again I could use the original steering with push button switches as rudder control without a rudder, but it would be neat to build the rudder and it would be a challenge. -Rob
Yeah, the DC motors tend to pull so much current & have such a volatile resistance that standard DC electrical techniques don't really apply / apply with a grain of salt. For example using a resistor, etc tends to make fires because the resistor dissipates a ton of the power meant for the motors. ESC controls the "average voltage" going to your motor based on what you RX is telling it to do. They are what makes a toy car go faster or slower. You would then put your multimeter over one of the motors & read voltage as you change your transmitter's trim (or memorize what is 'safe'. ESCs are available anywhere. But you should measure your motor's stall current (clamp it so it can't spin or google it) before choosing an ESC. That number (times 4) is the max current your motors could possibly draw at any moment in time. You don't need an ESC rated for that number (it will be pretty high) but it puts you in the ball park as to what you are looking for. Of course you need to remember to fuse the ESC for its max rating. Additionally, waterproof ESCs make life easier. Of course you could just guess & fuse too... perhaps 10A? donno.
