deep sky

thanks for the input i dont know why the first time i tryed velcro when i glued it on with 5 min epoxy it fell off maybe ill try cleaning the esc a little better thanks to all you captains i have ideas now o by the way where would i look for inds velcro

Rich404

Hi captains,

I have bee putting a lot of hours in Dauntless...

The cabin lights work but the contact springs are shightly pushing up on the cabins. I now need suggestions on how to latch the cabins to the hull. I posted detailed pictures on page 2 of the Dauntless sister forum.

Then off to the sound module...I spent all night and a good part of today trying to hook that thing up....I know I hooked it up right and it doesn't work. I think it was dead on arrival (DOA). I have to contact the manufacturer AGAIN. This is VERY annoying...

Now i'm of to the pumps. I got the servo to work so I know it will switch on...

Now for the pumps. I just ran a test on each one and like everything from china one pump seems smoother than the other....One thing that I don't like is that the motors kick up a fair amount of sparks...This makes me a bit nervous because they are in such close proximity to the LIPOS. I will likely up up alumunum foil lined boxes around them....

I plan on going on some missions before the end of Winter. Three very important locations on the 'bucket list' for this boat is:

-The Long Island Sound

-Tarrytown Boat Club

-Oyster Bay

Bill...Are you up to go on some missions?

Well guys...break is over back to wiring...

-Rich.

dauntlessfan

Rich keep on truckin and don't get burnt out (no pun intended). Also maybe feeding a bit lower voltage to those chinese pumps would help with the sparks?

dauntlessfan

Rich I'm guessing your Oyster Bay visit going to be to the Jackobson shipyard? I think last time I looked, it had been converted into a recreation center or something. But the turntable and tracks Jackoson once used to launch boats (and assuming also the Dauntless) are still visible in online satellite views.. the attached are from a few years ago. Current images show a lot of small sailboat hulls cluttered around the turntable and one of the launch tracks pretty much built over.

Rich404

Hi DF,

That is absoulutely fine with me...Yes I would go to that spot to sail the boat..I think it would be a sacred spot for us 'dauntlessfans' to sail at least once. The cool part is step sister lives very close to there.

Update,

The wiring on my boat is bananas...I have become a pro at soldering and shrink wrapping to say the least.

As of now I am done with the following:

[*]The lights all work and the switch panel is under the lazarette floor near the steering controls. I cut out a section in the floor so that I can easily use the switches.[*]Each of the 4 motors are wired up. I took a long cable for positive and one for negative and cut around where the contacts would be for each motor. Then I soldered the cable to each motor contact. The positive cable runs straight to the pwr dst panel and the negative runs to the servo controlled 3 way switch and then to the panel.[*]The boat also has 3 working fans in the engineroom. Two are intake which brings in outside air and the third sucks in engineroom heat and blows it outside the louvered vents outside the boat. The exhaust is made from the old exhaust box mentioned earlier. That is also wired up and it will be placed over the servo controlled switch.[*]***I do need to finish up the woodwork to tie together the intake and exhaust to the louvers.[/list]Here is how the switch works:

It is a 3 way switch and is controlled by a slider switch on my tx. On the tx the center is off but when it is slid up the servo switches on the waterpumps. Then it goes back to center where the pumps are off. Then, when it is slid down the intake and exhaust fans will kick on and flush the heat out of the engineroom.

So now another change will be made to the water plumbing. The water hoses are too big and don't fit very tightly around the water pump so that is the first concern.
Second, they don't fit very snug around the underwater intake tubes. This is a bit scary because a mishap will send my boat to Davey Jones locker as the saying goes. So I am going to refit all the plumbing using smaller tubes. Finally the third concern with the plumbing is that I have two intake lines per water inlet and they get fed into one waterpump. It is overkill because I had to branch all the splitters which looks horrible. So rather than rip out the double water inlets I am going to epoxy over one pair under the boat and fill the tubes with epoxy and call it a day. Now I will use 4 underwater pickups rather than eight. What I am going to do is have one splitter comimg off of each motor so that when the tubes do fill they will still converge at the transom and still have the same effect on the water exhaust feature.

Once there are less water tubes to deal with aft I am planning on setting the LIPOS up using on/off switches. This is so that I don't have to take the boat apart at the pond but rather install the charged LIPOS at home, bring the boat to the pond and remove the storage doors on the transom and turn on the LIPOS at the flick of three switches. This will be ideal for me and now that I am comfortable with soldering I will can make it happen.

The cool thing about this is that not only can I turn the boat off or on but I also have access to the light switches in the same area so I won't have to take the boat apart to get to anything...

-Rich.

Rich404

Unfortunately my pwr distribution panel goes from 3,5,6 and 12V. I wish it had a 9V feature. I tried it on 6V and they didn't even turn over so 12V it is. Also, I am going to watercool those pumps..The way that I soldered the cable to the leads makes them ideal for me to cut some brass tubes and solder them to the leads. I just didn't have the time tonight. Once I begin the water tube redo I will sdo it then. I figure that one pair of pumps will be dedicated to cooling all the pumps and cooling the two ESC' and one pair of pumps will be dedicated to cooling the motors. This has turned into a very complex system but I am having so much fun doing it.

-Rich.

Rich404

Hi captains,

Here are pictures to support the above...

First picture is the water pump and exhaust switch..

Then comes the wiring for the lights..

-Rich.

Rich404

Now comes the glory...

The lighting of the yacht...

The searchlight was on the line with the navigation lights which turned out not to be a good idea bacause the navi lights were 6V and the searchlight was 3V. As Jesus once said, a star that shines twice as bright lasts half as long.... So I have to either replace the bulb to 6V or have to find a 6V searchlight...

Here are those pictures..

PS..I noticed today that RCU loads up pictures lightning fast...I wonder if they got wind that the crown jewel of the scale boat forum began migrating to another forum..

-Rich.

Sound Sailor

Rich, not being critical but helpful. In the pics above of the wiring , last row of the 3pics, pic in the middle of the 4 switch wiring. Be very careful and maybe use some tape or other insulation close to the solder connection. The wires on the single spst switch look to be very close to touching and causing a closed circuit.

You going to the meeting on Friday?

Bill

Rich404

Moving right along....

Here are pictures of the pumps and fans being wired up. If you look closely at these pictures you can see that the aft side walls are completely covered in wires and watertubing. There are a few final notes here..

The motors are wired and as I mentioned will get watercooling on the contacts.

I moved the fuse holders to the port and starboard motors further aft. The fuse holders were located on the stateroom side for the port motor and the pantry on the stbd motor. Because they are bulky they would cause problems every time I lifed off the owners suite so I broke a bed suppport 3 seperate times and it was always hard to shimy it back in place. So with the fuses relocated further aft this is no longer an issue...

The owners cabin walls were always a bit too high since I created the lipo trays under the owners suite so I began shaving down the top of the walls so that they will lower properly. This was done after supports were put on the top of the walls to better support the upper structure.

You can also see the spagetti tubing aft where the tubes come up from the underwater pickups and converge to go into the waterpump. By eliminating one tube per motor on the intake side will eliminate the wishbone look coming from the floor and clean up the mess down there. also there was no need for two intakes for one motor. This should clean up nicely and free up more room for the LIPO switches.

The exhaust fan in the engineroom still needs to be slightly modified. I am going to cut down the four exhaust pipes to be smaller and will possibly remove those cool looking smoke injectors. This will also free up some space in the enginerom and not look so cluttered when the tubes are installed.

This yacht is a continued work in progress but that's what a hobby is, right?

-Rich.

Rich404

That's a good idea, thanks Bill!! I'll follow up and wrap a little electrical tape aroud them.

I am unsure if I will make the meeting but i'll keep you posted.

-Rich.

Rich404

Hi captains,

I hope you all had a Happy New Year!!

-Rich.

Apismelifera

deep sky:

Velcro or any quality brand of hook and loop fastening can be found at any fabric store. That's where I bought mine last time. The fabric store I went to sells it by the foot in black or white, and in several different widths.

If you want you can also buy it from http://www.mcmaster.com/#hook-and-loop/=kv56rd they have Military Specification hook and loop if that,s what you really want. Have a look!



Rich404:

I have on occasion, made my own "Y" connectors from K&S brass tubing before. I made mine in a square or U shape to better fit the space. I made one with a 0.375" inlet and five 0.125" outlets for my Torino. I used it as a vacuum manifold. Made the tubing runs neater and shorter. I even soldered on a brass tab with a hole in in so I could bolt it down. Nothing fits Better than a custom made part.

You also mentioned that the pump motors spark a lot. Consider adding RF suppression capacitors to them. If they spark they're radiating RF noise that your receiver has to deal with. The cleaner the environment the more range you will have. Since they are only getting voltage of one polarity you might try a large 100uf capacitor on the motors from Positive to negative. You only need one for each pair of motors. Just be sure to get the polarity of the capacitor correct. Something like these: http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...tent=CT2032230

dauntlessfan

Great update and cute kid Rich! And wow, some of those pictures of the interior lighting really give insight as to how it must have looked to be aboard Big D after dark... very nice work as always!

Sound Sailor

Real nicepic with the latest family addition. Looks like you were ready to lose a railing.
What did Nicholas think of that going on with HIS boat?

Rich404

Hi Bill, John had a very firm grip on the railing but luckily no damage. The railings are stronger than him!

Nikolas didn't mind at all. He took some pictures with me & John but he wasn't very interested and refused to look at the camera...Nik gave me the Dauntless back..It is now known as 'Daddy's boat' once again..He is happy knowing that 'Whim' is his even though he is too young to touch it.

-Rich.

deep sky

hi caps well i velcroed my esc and i drilled 4 holes in the bulkhead and ziptied it im going to drill some holes behind the escs for cooling and install fans later

deep sky

o i almost forgot how do you captains oil your shafts with grease or oil and what kind

Rich404

Hi Depsky,

The ESC looks very secure there!

I use white lithium grease.

-Rich.

deep sky

do you use a grease gun or hand pack it

Rich404

OMG....I just started writing in detail how I grease it and it looked sooo bad....It comes in a white tube, i'm sure you will figure it out..


-Rich.

deep sky

thanks

Rich404

Just squeeze some in the stuffing tube and insertthe shaft... Be sure to also put some lith greasearound the shaft as it goes inside the stuffing tube...

There..I wrote it the best I could without double meanings...LOL

-Rich.

Rich404

Hi Apismelifera, Thanks man for this info! I will pick up some RF supression capacitors and see if there is an improvement.

-Rich.

Rich404

Thanks Dauntlessfan...I was so happy when the lights finally came on inside the boat..It's going to be fun later on when I finally get back to the interior detailing..

-R.