Hey there. This will be the new build thread for the USS North Carolina. A Strike Model's full ship kit. This is not mine but Captn Jack Sparrow's model for RC combat. Captn Jack (aka Craig) will later provide the cannon system to install. I hope to begin sometime this week and will be documenting with photos of the build. This will be for FG IRCWCC format. Standard layout for cannons and pump. Poppet system as there is an abundance of these valves on hand. The drive system is the Strikemodel's traxxis geared reduction system . Question under this drive system what type of ESC should be used for it? Would I need 2 esc's or just one? Recommendations will be extremely welcomed.
Assuming 550 can motors, one Mtroniks Viper Marine 40A should be able to drive them both. I would strongly advocate a fuse between the motors and the ESC.
Generic ATC blade type fuses seem to hold up well for us. My Derf has each motor fused with a 15A fuse, the Moltke I'm building I'm thinking about just sticking a single 30A fuse between the motors and ESC, but I may go with the two fuse approach again.
With a 40A ESC and two 550-size non-titan motors, maybe a 30A slow-blow? (Slow is a relative term, just means that the starting surge from the motors won't blow it even though it's >30A).
I was thinking of a single Higher amp ESC to run both motors with a high fuse in between. I still get shivers when Yamato ran for 90 minutes in circles in the middle of the lake. I think the ESC safety kicked in and shut it down however it left my throttle on the whole time.
I loath fuses. Use motors that can't overdraw the ESC and gear them. Makes for happy ships that never go DIW except for battery/ radio failure. I have never had a ship out of control. Das Butts
I had my Baden have massive systems failure once in the middle of a battle; it did backwards circles until it drove itself under in reverse after about 30 or 40 seconds. Glad it was only 5 feet of water!
A lot of people seem to go for the "whatever worked for that guy" approach. I say pay attention to amperage draw and tailor your whole propulsion setup to go together from the get go. As an analogy, the best high hp engines are those that are designed from the ground to work together harmoniously not the ones that get a bunch a bunch of "bolt on power adders". I designed my Radetzky class on paper ensuring nothing would conflict with/destroy anything else first. I based the components I chose on wattage ratings of known "good" motors for the application. I am using 9.9v brushless stuff and it works great. Effective setups can be done at any voltage. My inner Machinist Mate always pushes me to use gearboxes. Das Butts
Hi Curt, If you are going to use ESCs, use the Mtroniks Viper marine. They water proof, not 'resistant', mine have been fully immersed in water and worked just fine while trying not to sink. They also have instant reverse, which comes in handy. The other ESCs we were messing with like the proboat are not what you want to use, none of them worked properly while under water. I use two ESCs for two motors, I believe in redundancy. If one goes, you still have propulsion. I used a single 25 A Mtroniks Viper Marine in Scharnhorst, when she had a single drive. Never had an issue with the ESC and I spent loads of time chasing Steve Crane's Nagato, forward, reverse, forward, reverse, forward, reverse, turn quick and run like hell! No over heats, (ESC in the water channel keeps it cool), no crap outs, no loss of control.(knock, knock, knock on wood). I have never used a fuse in this application but I would say Tugs is correct, use a slow blow. Just my opinion of course. J
I have one of the mtroniks viper 40 esc. That will be getting used in the Espana when that gets built.
Thanks guys all the info is great. Jay I am looking at the Mtroniks Viper Marine to use. I figure the 40amp per motor will work well so each motor has a ESC. I like the idea that if one craps out you still have use of the other motor to get the model in . I been thinking about installing same for Yamato and Missouri and get a large single for Bismarck . I want Craig's model to be reliable and suitable for combat so the ideal of an esc each motor sounds better. I think Steven Crane has this setup but I don't remember what the amp rating was for his Esc's. NC will be geared down but the ESC will help make it easier to get the speed tuned correctly. Jay do you have a diagram of the setup with the 2 ESCs?
Interesting. I was walking her decks just last weekend. I spent over two hours onboard and did not see everything. I enjoyed climbing into the 16 and 5 inch turrets. I tried to post some photos, but looks like the program is not allowning me to do that right now. In the gift shop, there is a book for sale about the ship and a set of plans come along with it!
Hi Curt, once I get my boats unpacked, (yeah I know) I will do one up. As I recall there was nothing to it though. If you go here http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/Forum/tabid/58/aff/536/aft/441715/afv/topic/Default.aspx all will be explained. I asked the same question and got the answers. J
I have had some problems running two viper marine 25 at once. At full speed every so often the motors will stutter, like one esc commanded the direction to reverse for a split second, which causes large sparks to fly from the brushes. I think this may be detrimental to motor life. Carl C. Says placing small blocking diodes in the signal wires after the Y harness cured the problem for him. Ron Hunt
I will be making the battery trays out of that material too Jay for Craig's NC. Speaking of which I marked out the skeg locations and started cutting out the levels for the superstructure.
More assembly on the superstructure this morning. It was difficult to figure out the foam blocks to match the profile sections on the planes along with the deck levels. I think I have it figured out but I need more model photos or real ship to see the sections better. I nearly have it assembled. Once I get it right then I will start carving out the wood blocks for the funnels , and other sectinos and the conning tower. Then rail the platforms. No Bling here just the kit it self and the basics for FG combat.
