Strike Firing boards problem

Hey.

So. some stuff happened.

I'm switching my boat over to two Strike firing boards that I have. I've never done this, and there's no instructions that came with them whatsoever. this is mildly annoying but I've gotten used to dealing with the zero-guidance-or-instructions philosophy of the hobby.

So, I assembled them as one would intuitively do, considering the general layout. But, from what I can tell in testing, intuition is clearly wrong and we're once again in the "any sane universe would include instructions for this" realm.

But.

Here's what I did


the top left, I assume is the power input from the batteries. #1 and #2 I assume are the slots to go to each solenoid, hence why they are rigged as such.



Bottom's stupid-proof. +, -, s.

If you have any idea as to how these things are supposed to be wired, or use strike firing boards in your boats,
I'd appreciate pictures of what this is supposed to look like. not scribble scratch diagrams. pictures in situ.

Thanks.

 

Oh. Just in case. here's a pic of the board in the unwired configuration.

 

Strike Models now has their own firing boards for solenoids (or whatever else you want to drive). These boards are more that just switches, as they incorporate the flyback diodes and a significant amount of circuit protection (ESD, reverse polarity protection, and are 15V compatible across ALL pins). Power is connected to specific pins and the solenoids are hooked directly to the board (with or without a connector). Wiring harnesses are only necessary if you wish to gang the solenoids together. The board does not come with wires attached, but the wires are available below. The board will need to be protected from water using ScotchKote ™ or some other conformal coating. The board is rated for 10A of inductive load (ie. solenoids), though the connectors used might not be good for that much. The board is 1.05″ x 1.6″. Voltage drop across the components will typically be less than 0.03V, allowing more voltage at the solenoids where it is needed.

VIA https://web.archive.org/web/20160320224357/http://www.strikemodels.com/products/cannon-systems

 

Diode. The photo from the website I posted has the diode, as well as a 18Ω resistor instead of the 0Ω resistor on Anvil's. I believe having the diode and resistor would make make the fall time faster than the rise time thus switching the solenoid faster. Don't quote me on that though.

 

Thanks guys!

To Answer your question Nick, I am running 2 LiFePO4 cells, so 6-7 V. totally within the Tame range.

So, here's the problem. According to the pic you provided, I wired the board exactly how that diagram says to do it. the result when I plugged it in last night was that as soon as power was applied, the #2's LED would flash at a half second interval. curious, I plugged #1 and #2 in to each a solenoid. that light is the #2 firing. I tried to control it with my transmitter to no effect. I plugged it into several different channels on my radio. I even plugged it in backwards to see if I had mis-wired it. no change. it just kept firing the #2 solenoid at half second intervals.

The other firing board did the exact same thing as well. those solder pads have now perplexed a total of four people. I asked @Beaver about these boards last night and that was the first thing he mentioned too.

Oh well. I have a bit of time before the September battle to get these things up and running. Worst case Ontario, @Bob can show me how to do whatever he does to get his boats running and I'll just go with that.

 

(as you can see by the profile pic, The Questionable Fart Project is in all other regards operational after 19 months of work)

 

Okay so Stephen from Strike sent me an awesome photo confirming the wiring setup. His pic also featured something on that mystery solder tab. so I sent him a pic of my board and asked him. As soon as he gets back to me, I will post the answer.

This is a satisfying conclusion to the past few days of fiddling. Friday night, I had a completely different wiring config, and one of the components failed in a spectacular fashion. I'll stay scant on details, but it wasn't operator error, and apparently fires in the hull are part of my christening tradition now.

My boats can't go in the water for the first time without at least one good explosion/fire. lolololol. Later, after I talk with the manufacturer and we figure out what the devil happened, I'll explain further

 

Stephen just got back to me.

"The unfilled position was originally for a diode to help drain the solenoids. It turns out that the solenoid drained plenty fast as so that diode was not needed. That position was jumped by the 0 ohm resistor next to it. There are two flyback diodes in a single component on the board. That component is directly between the two LEDs."

He said the wiring was fine, and that the programming on the boards was likely the issue. I'm gonna ship the boards out to him tomorrow and he's gonna square them away.

I am absolutely astounded that he's going this far out of his way on a sunday to help. Still bummed that Strike closed down.

 

So he had a lot of issues with the programming on those boards. He later had a new version that you could tell because it would have "2.0" etched on it. You probably have an earlier version with the programming issues. I still use some but they are going out of my boats from attrition. If you want to trade some for other stuff shoot me a message we can talk.

 

Thanks dude, but Stephen's got them in hand and is fixing them for me.
they were V3.0, so a step up from the ones you're talking about, I think.

@Beaver turned me to some other boards that I am probably gonna try here soon in Texas when I get around to her FRAG 2 refit, once The Questionable Fart Project is ready and I'm in accordance with Kevin's Law.
(Kevin's Law: Always have one boat fully operational and never use it for parts)

Speaking of which. All other systems up and ready.