I personally do not like having separate batteries for my drive and pump. The reason being, if one of them dies, and I sink knowing I have power on my ship I can't get to for a critical system, I'm going to be steamed. Everything works, or nothing.
I think that's what I'll do. I don't know if this is a stupid question or not but how do I hook up solenoids? Do I use servos somehow?
You can, most people dont. Most people use "firing boards" which take the control signal from the TX and close a circuit which opens the solenoid and fires the gun. The De Facto standard in the hobby is the board made by Team Delta. (http://www.servocity.com/html/micro_pwm_switch__10amp_.html) There are plenty of other options and they are pretty easy to build yourself if you have a little electronics skill and aren't afraid of microcontrollers. It appears that Team Delta stopped selling them directly and now you have to go through servo city and they are more expensive than I remember too. That sucks, Looks like I'll be building my own next time I need some.
Nope. Slower and they require a servo to actuate which requires waterproofing. Waterproofing solid-state electronics is easier than waterproofing servos. Did I mention they fire significantly slower.
There arre alternative electronic switch boards that will work for controlling solenoids. A run down on the most common can be found here: www.rcnavalcombat.com/Forum/tabid/5...fault.aspx
Matt poppets fire slower but you can set your servo cam so that you can rapid fire your poppets with less stick movement. Chris Osborne's Musashi had the fastest firing gunss in Nabs when it was active. He had his servo cams almost on top of the poppets. He could rapid fire his duals very very fast. With the new radios you can set your servo cam almost point blank to a poppet as there is very little twitch when turning on the radio. I have mine further back however it's not always the faster shooting ship that wins. Accuracy of your shots and reliability and how your cannon ranges are set up factor in as well. To give you an example I think there was only a couple of us at IRCWCC NATS that were using the poppet system. My ship broadsided in multiple exchanges with many faster firing ships and came away with little damage to the hull side most of the time while the enemy was holed by my slower firing guns. My guns worked very well throughout Nats and I sank a couple of ships, and stood toe to toe with more advanced ships. Poppets are fine if your budget conscious.
I didn't really think of a budget but after seeing how expensive things are it is a good idea to have one. Also having accumulator tanks to hold a ready supply of gas would help speed it up right?
Not always. In fact, I'm of the opinion that accumulator tanks actually slow the fire rate of fast gun cannons. But that is my opinion based on lots of stuff that would take up a long explaination to prove. Heh. Right now, the fastest rate-of-fire cannons in the hobby do not use accumulator tanks in the system. Instead, the ships have high flow regulators and 1/8" inside diameter hose to feed high flow rates to the solenoids and cannons.
lol! I think i will use poppit valves set up like what stokomoto said and also use the larger 1/8 hose. Are there any othere options to use for guns? Not having a hull yet its hard to know what to ask about. Right now it doesnt look like I'll be able to make it to the labor day battle as my family might be making plans for the weekend But if anyone is having any small local battles say near Pennsylvania in the near future i would love to go. I'll let you guys know my status for labor day if anything changes.
Hey everybody how was the battle? Sorry I couldn't be there my family and I went to the jersey shore.
It was a lot of fun, weather was great, pond was in pretty good condition (some weeds but they didnt seem to cause much of a problem), good battling, and hanging out with the crew. We were missing a number of guys that bailed at the last minute but even with fewer boats on the water there was still a ton of damage dealt and sinks to keep it interesting. USSNH showed up on Monday, it was great to meet him in person and I think he got some of his questions answered. There was talk of atleast one more battle before the ponds turn solid so keep your ears open for another chance to come up.
Trust me I will! This is going off the original topic of ship comparison, but how would I actuate the pump? When do you know when to turn it on?
I use a switch on the radio to turn an ESC which controls the pump on/off. There are other methods, water sensing switches/floats, some even have a manual backup but at the moment I like a simple manual on/off. You turn it on after your get shot. basically most people just cycle it on/off if they have light damage, if you get heavy damage you have to leave it running.
Sorry for the late response school started today I think I will just use a switch. So basically after I go at it with another ship I just turn on the pump? Easy enough .
You could use a push on/off switch activated by a servo to run the pump. I use one in my SMS Prinz Eugen and USS Tennessee and it works fine.
That's what I do, it isn't a flawless system but it does work rather well. I'd use some sort of solid state controlled relay (http://www.servocity.com/html/elect..._rela.html) to control the pump motor. An ESC is also a decent option but probably not the best option at the moment. (Unless of course you use a brushless pump then an ESC is required but that is a different can of worms.) The servo & push button method works but has more issues with waterproofing and reliability than the relay.
I'll probably use the relay for the pump. Right now I'm leaning back towards the duke but have also looked at the invincible. How is she?
The Invincible (I-Boat) is pretty good, 4 units and smaller than the other boats mentioned, however it is still large enough that fitting it out and making sure it is underweight shouldn't be an issue. Very much a "hug and slug" type of ship, it should turn better than a Colorado and probably better than an Iron Duke. One less gun than a Colorado or Iron Duke so it would be a little cheaper to build and a little easier to maintain which is a plus for a first boat. Also you'd be less of a target.
