looking into the hobby

I like my VDT a lot,,, It probably would be a good beginner boat if you have some help laying out the internals or if you use Battlers C. new Combat Gear Multi-B board you should have no problems squeezing it all in.

 

well really i like the Kaiser, because of the offset turrets. But BC doesn't have a hull for it, i was looking at other hulls available and came across the VDT, which has them as well.

 

I might know someone that knows someone that might be fixing up his Westfellen for a new guy to run this season.

 

is that a Nassau class ship?

May just seems so far away. I guess that just give me time to read some build logs. I've been scrolling through them lately.

 

Westfalen, class 4

 

gotcha. that looks interesting. I like it

I guess it's just that I like the ships where everything isn't in a line I guess. I just feel like there is more firepower in a shorter ship, not particularly to this hobby, but IRL. In the hobby it would give you more options for side guns it seems, and would make them closer to the side to allow for an easier time to adjust them, and able to aim them lower as well.

 

Randy
Shouldn't you be spending your time building a CONVOY boat.
Kas

 

So I thought of another battery question.

Would one of those Power wheel batteries work for one of these ships? I'm not sure on weights, wouldn't want to make the ship overweight though, but I was thinking something like this


View: https://www.amazon.com/Builder-Replacement-Rechargeable-KEYKO-Terminal/dp/B01MXY9VOL/ref=sr_1_8_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1524734686&sr=1-8&keywords=deep%2Bcycle%2Bsealed%2Blead%2Bacid%2Bbattery&refinements=p_n_feature_twenty_browse-bin%3A10063714011&th=1


6v 12ah, so I'd carry a spare (or 2) to swap out between battles. the cost is low enough for sure. I guess it's a weight and size issue. I would still add a connector onto it for a quick connection rather than using the ones on it. then I wouldn't have to worry about polarity. It's a deep cycle too so it should be able to handle charging and discharging.

would that battery be legal, and could it work in one of the few ships I'm looking at?

 

That’s a sealed lead acid battery (SLA). Those batteries were the workhorse of the hobby for a long time, they still work but don’t get used by many active battlers anymore (use fell off about 5-7 years ago). Their ‘use’ is probably still high among keyboard combatants.


They offer very poor weight to performance characteristics, but could still be used in the ships you mentioned before, they are a lower cost option. There are different capacity options, you should wait until you actually start buying stuff before making a decision on the size and quantity.

 

It's a standard SLA battery (sealed lead acid). Perfectly legal. Just make sure it will fit: dimensions: 5.94 X 2.01x 3.70 (L x W x H).

Also, cheaper in qty2:


View: https://www.amazon.com/Cycle-Battery-Wheelchairs-Scooters-Mobility/dp/B01KVZ7WRW/ref=sr_1_14_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1524739234&sr=8-14&keywords=6v%2B12ah%2Bsla&th=1

 

KEYBOARD COMBATANTS I love it!

 

I figured performance to weight wouldn't be good, but they are cheap.

I was thinking to use them to just start getting into the hobby to keep costs down, when I do start. eventually I'll go with something better, but with the costs of everything else, If I can get a years worth of battling out of them, I'd be able.to go for the good stuff at that point.

cheaper even yet buying 3. might do that to keep a rotation on them to try and prolong their life a bit.

I guess though I wouldn't know what to do with them when I do replace them with something better.

perhaps a mobile charging pack for my cellphone or something

 

I'm hoping to shed that title come the end of May... to keyboard combatant/observer

 

Have you decided what motors for drive and pump you will be using? This more than anything should decide what battery voltage to settle on.

 

well that I'm not entirely sure on. For a Bilge pump I'm probably going to buy one straight from BC. seems simple enough. depending on the ship would be if i go for the large or the small/micro (not sure what the difference is, i'm assuming the small has more room in the pump, but the micro can be upgraded to a 380 motor, which i feel i could acquire more easily) that would depend on if i am going to have a 1 unit pump or a 1/2 unit pump. but either way, it'll be one of those

as for drive, I'm not sure what exact kind of motor i want. Do I want speed, or torque? something low turn like a Traxxas 12T Titan 550, or maybe a high turn count like the crawler motors, 35-55 turns? or maybe like a stock motor somewhere in the 20s? I figured brushed would be the cheapest, as 1 esc can run any motors i have for drive. I know i can always adjust the end point for top speed limiting, but i haven't really looked into the rules too much if there is a max acceleration rate or not?

I was thinking though with drive and battery that I would try to go as cheap as possible at first. I would eventually upgrade and run higher voltages, but for now If i stick with 6v i think i can get that aspect of the boat cheaper. Get something going before start theorycrafting and experimenting on ways to improve it.

 

If going direct drive, find something that turns 10K rpm or so at 6v. The more torque the better. If going with a gear reduction, figure a motor rpm and reduction ratio that gets you that 10K final rpm.

 

For cheap and durable brushed motors you can't go wrong with the Johnson 550 can motors. Usually around $5 each.

 

The idea is to accelerate as fast as possible.

 

would the Traxxas Titan 12t 550 @6v with the BC gear box and the a 20 or 19t pinion work fine?

or would direct drive of the traxxas 21t 550 motors at 6v be better?

I have a few if these lying around, figured I could use them.

 

Those motors are better suited for pump applications, but like Steve said, you want your component selection to be consistent. Don’t pick a high current motor and pair it with a low current battery. We have also had pretty poor lifetime from those traxxas motors, I stopped using the titan 14t motors because they would burn out after just a few battle (not events, battles). Spending $20 a pop for a motor that lasts a weekend or two doesn’t make sense when a Johnson 600 motor costs $5 each and can last a season or more. If you have them on hand you can hook them up, but don’t be surprised if the lifespan is less than you’d desire. The choice between direct drive vs gears depends on the ship, prop size, motor, and battery, so you need to look at all of those factors together, and right now you haven’t even decided on a ship.

I know that this thread already has some good advice about motors, so I would recommend that you take some time to read through the responses you already received. There are 7 pages of pretty good suggestions (all pre purchase/commitment too...) in this thread alone, so asking more questions without considering the earlier responses will lead to ‘circular recommendations.’ Have you made it through any build threads yet? I know that was recommended a while ago.

Once you actually purchase a hull and start building then please ask any additional questions you have, but in the pre purchase phase there is a limit to how useful the responses can be (you will end up with a lot of ‘well it depends...’ and/or advice that is specific to one situation that might not be the same as the situation that you actually end up choosing)