I would point out the plastic spartans solenoids are molded from is the same brand of plastic fire extinguisher tops are molded from. I have a 30 year old fire extinguisher that still has a charge. Looking around the net at valves I see the clippard MME valve is now rated for only 115 psi, it used to be rated for 150 psi. The drop in rating would be electrical, I found one of my backup MME valves wouldn't activate at all above 140 psi. The orifice in a MME is pretty small. Review of MME valves, which also discusses Spartans.
My MMEs in Evstafi work fine at 150psi, although I am running them off of a 14.4V battery that only powers the solenoids, so no real voltage drop issues. In a 6-sortie day, the most I had to charge back in was ~25mAH. That's 3 guns for 6 sorties. That said, going forward, when I buy new solenoids, they will be 6V Kips, it's too easy, even if they cost twice as much (and they do) it's worth it.
Okay ... finally got a chance to start on the build, pictures will be coming. As far as firing boards, My SD will be using the 'standard' setup for this vessel, using triple sterns and 2 front sidemounts. How many firing boards for the solenoids will I need, in your expertise? I will have a solenoid for each gun, obviously, but can I use 1 firing board for all of the triple sterns vs. a firing board for each gun? Also: as I am a true newbie and am going from scratch, I have (obviously, from above, decided to take advice and go with solenoids) is there a schematic for setup for the firing setup I described above? From looking at builds on the site, it looks like accumulators are used with the solenoid valves, or am I missing something obvious or important? Many thanks for any input/information! Thanks! Paul
I am not sure what the 3823 model is. I do not even see it on the Spartan Solenoid Web page. I order the 3827-070-FA81A. It is a special order item through US Plastics They do not stock the 6 volt model. You have to call them. Yes it is rated to 200 PSI. Current price was $22.36. At that price I ordered a couple of extra's After my 10 year absents from the hobby, my old Kip solenoids were not working. I replaced them in My Washington for our last battle. Nick will verify that they were VERY effective .
Yes, you extensively dented my topside elements. You may have also been responsible for some of this, though surely I bear equal responsibility for such careless ship handling.
Haven't seen the current carrying specs on the BC board, but I suspect it is similar to others in the 10-15A range for inductive loads (solenoids), so yes, you can use one board to fire 3 solenoids at once, unless you get a solenoid that is not typical to our use and is power hungry. Shorter said: If you use KIP solenoids from BC, or Spartans from Strike, you can open all 3 with a single board. You will want 2 boards (assuming one is capable of handling both directions of a channel, both Strike and BC offer dual capable firing boards), one to fire port & stbd sidemounts on respective left-right pulls, and one to fire your triples on a downwards stick movement. Some folk like accumulators on triples to provide a large source of ready air just before the solenoid. Others use long lengths of large inner diameter tubing per solenoid to accomplish a similar effect. Both solutions seem to work.
10-15A for a gun board is massive overkill. The standard Kips we use typically pull about 1A each. (@ 6V, they are speced at 7W so that works out correctly.) The SSRs on the BC boards are rated to 5A how they are connected on the board. At the duty cycle we use them I wouldnt be surprised if they can go over that but don't be surprised if they fail above that.
Thanks! another dumb question: If I go with 4 3.2V batteries for propulsion, etc., how do I accommodate the 6V solenoids for gun firing? Would I use a separate battery? Thanks, and I apologize if its a dumb question. Paul
Several different ways to resolve... could use a separate battery. I'd recommend running your boat at 6.4V (2 parallels of 2x3.2V in series).
6V Solenoids can often be run at ~12V(really 4S LiFePO4) without any issues. I know a number of people (myself included) that have been doing that with KIPs for years, the "newer" brands of solenoids don't have as much battle testing but with the cycle time and amount we use them I'd bet they would deal with increased voltage just as well.
In the kit I got from BC, which is awesome, it has two 550 brushed motors for propulsion and 1 brushed 550 for the pump. After reading all the articles on this extremely helpful website, it looks like a lot of folks are going with brushless motors these days. My particular boat is a Sodak battleship. If I go with brushless motors instead, is there a recommendation for size/brand of brushless motors equivalent to the BC motors? And also, if I go to brushless on the drive motors, do I need to go with brushless on the pump as well? I would assume so, but you know what assuming does ... thanks for any/all suggestions!
There are plenty of BRUSHED pumps and drive setups that work and are cheap. Brushless has merit but it is the cutting edge of new tech., and you and your boat will have to be able to change the setup when it doesn't work as planned. I would advise brushed for your first boat, because there is much more help available.
