RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

<div>Hey guys,</div><div>
</div><div>A bit of an update :)</div>All the new stuff got picked up this morning, the new prop is aluminium by the looks/ feel of it. It's very sharp and balanced, so I can't wait to try it out<div>
</div><div>I also got the ESC, it's a little bigger than the previous ones I've had, but that can only be good :D </div><div>I was wondering, there's a bank of capacitors separately, soldered onto where the positive/negative comes from the LIPO... </div><div>I assume they are capacitors to assist in keeping up the massive amount of grunt this thing can produce from the get go? Is that right?</div><div>
</div><div>any info would be good, cheers :)</div>

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Now what i gather is that it is a Turnigy 180amp with 3 caps standing upright between the pos. and neg. power wires. I see it is watercooled and put 4mm round connectors on or what connectors you have except Deans, don't use them. I put 2 extracaps on my T-120 esc and attached them to the power wires , just outside the existing caps. and runs great in a 29" mono . INFO! Oops; i put 2 caps in the power lines. This will decrease the possible heat in esc. My error. How you do this is to solder the minus ( neg. wire of cap to black power line ) and the the other wire of cap is + and solder it to the red or + wire. Best to strip insulation off a super small wire and slide the insulation over each wire so wires don't touch each other ( insurance ).

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Hey Mikeup,<div>
</div><div>Yep, it's the 180amp ESC with the 3 caps, like you described (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...;v=wRDufkJH5Ak)</div><div>Unlike the YouTube video, it additionally also has another bank of 5 caps, wrapped in shrink wrap... I've seen that on a car ESC too (the separate bank of capacitors)</div><div>
</div><div>Thanks for the tip on the deans, I'm never putting one into a boat or car again :) Plus they are hard to solder anyway</div><div>
</div><div>I don't think I follow the 2 extra plugs that you are referring to, are you using an extension cable, or are you attempting to get the shortest amount of wires into your boat to decrease current loss? A pic would be lovely if you don't mind :)</div><div>
</div><div>Cheers</div><div>Martin</div>

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Ididn't check my typing, da! Most likey your power wires are 12 gauge or 10 gauge. 4mm round connectors will go as high as 100 amps. Yes, those Deans have caused problems as they are to close to each other and not much to solder to. Thats about all. I'm thinking about a little jet boat hull only and putting a surface drive in or a Zippkit 16.5 rigger that is almost pre-built. I got all my boat ready for water with homemade struts. I just cut brass tubing in certain lenghts and telescope each piece which are different sizes. Then i put nylonincerts which are 1" long with a 3/16" holes the whole 1" which are the the size of the cable shafts which are step down shafts for 1/8" props. Play is less than .0001. My struts end up about 3" long and slanted down some and can be bent if not right. Enough out of me. Long winded.

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

those little jet boats with an out drive certainly get up and boogie :)

This guys built one using one of the NQD hulls, it's VERY fast for the size I reckon... AND he even has the boat on fire in this clip...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK9Bwj6Z2ac[/youtube]

I thought you were talking about something like this in the previous post...
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...g/22406(1).jpghttp://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...og/22406-2.jpg

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Well not quite on the caps. You can go to RC groups and do a search on esc caps will show what i did and the person is Scorpion by name who did the work on a T 120 esc. I'm not a camera person for pictures and explaining is hard for me .

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Hi Mike,

I re-read the thread and noticed the update to your post regarding the ESC mod. That explains exactly what I was after! Thanks so much :)
It appears, and I'll see if I can get a picture up of it, that my ESC came with this mod already done...
I've got the 3 caps you see in the video, but then additionally, it also has a bank of another 5 caps, attached as you mentioned above BONUS :D

A small update:
I'm heading down to the local fibreglass shop to buy some more resin today.
The way I had put the brass tube into the boat, wasn't as water proof as I had hoped. It resulted in a bit of water in the boat after each run.
After today, that brass tube is NEVER coming out! :D

I also need to make up something to put my new ESC on, I will mount it behind the motor, to move a little more weight back in the boat. I've got sooo much space up the front to move the battery around for a better COG. I'm hoping the new configuration works even better than before.. time will tell ;)

Cheers
Martin

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9732850/anchors_9734862/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm[/link]

a bit more information on the capacitor mod, seems to be what I should have done to all my ESCs... I will from now on ;)

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

You know in moving the esc rear ward; you could put a piece of plywood crosswise in boat. Like making a shelf that wouldn't be far from motor or lipos. You want left/right balance of boat not to change. I did this in a mono and used velcro to hold esc to plywood. Reason i put esc up high was i used 2 lipos , one on each side of motor for the 30% ( CG ). Reason for plywood is balsa fiber and velcro won't hold and let loose real easy. Trouble placing esc on transom is distance from motor and lipos. I wrapped esc wires up and esc wire that goes to rx got wrapped up with cable ties or plastic ties and made to be permanent.BTW the site about caps was perfect place for caps and explained how to do extra caps, THANKS! Some people are able to explain better than i. IDEA: you can make a shelf like TT and epoxy the uprights about 2 1/2" apart for a permanent place for esc, just a thought.Have a good day! STUFFING TUBE- poke holes around tube with ease and pour epoxy on top of tube and let dry, take your time. Warm up epoxy as it will pour more easily and dry faster after pouring.============ You could put esc on top of motor with velcro and go from there.=========.

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

thanks for the tips Mikeup [8D]

The length of the wires does seem to be the limiting factor when trying to find a place to mount it...
Normally with DC, you don't want too long wires, as current is lost along the way... Perhaps I'll need to make up a 80mm extension cord of heavy gauge wire, I'm sure it's not ideal, but I don't think the performance loss would not be too noticeable (especially with the capacitors on the ESC too)

Anyone out there with experience of extending the battery wires? Any noticeable cons?

Cheers
Martin

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Got everything soldered up this morning, tried out the new ESC, love the clean throttle response, super smooth!!
I don't think I'll need to make up an extension cord either :)

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

I've run the boat with the new ESC... It's so smooth and power comes on very well!! I love it :)
However, the radio died on me, as it started raining, and it got a bit soaked (torrential rain down here in Oz over Christmas Eve's day)

Anyway, I've got a 4S battery sitting here, ready to be tested!! Can't wait to see what that does to the boat, I expect a lot more speed!!!
The initial run, before the radio died, looked like I had gotten the boat very well balanced out, riding primarily on the last little bit of the botom/ stinger/ prop area!!
With 4S, this thing will either max out SOON, or go for gold! I'm ordering a new radio tomorrow... been tossing up what to buy :p (probably just gonna get a FS GT3b again)

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

purchased a modified GT3B, all flashed with the newest mods, lots of adjusting possible now, plus 8 or 9 channels... not that I need that, I don't want any additional chit to worry about LOL

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

I'm getting impatient LOL the radio should be right on my door step, but I am really looking forward to taking this boat out for a spin again :) Especially trialling 4S ;)
That reminds me, I should probably look at fastening the ESC better in the back of the boat. I think one of those rear shelves are in order, as previously suggested.

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

here are a few photos.</p>

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Another try.

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Nice work on your Tear Into Jet Drive there Mike! I've gotta get one of those bearings, but by the looks of your setup, with the sleeve inside the bearing, it acts more so as a bit of support for the sleeve/tube?
I'm going to try to see if I can find a bearing that has 2.3mm inner diameter, to fit snugly around the drive shaft. That would then create a grease trap, which I could fill up using a syringe ;)

I've attempted to put it into a little drawing, hope it makes sense :)

Regarding my boats... I've purchased 5 new receivers, because I seem to drown them all the time (yep, they are in balloons or whatever...) At 7 bux, who cares though??
Except for that one time, when my boat rode 15 meters up the beach, because the throttle was stuck on max and I couldn't back off LOL...
Yes, I've learned to setup the auto-cut-off hahaha, but I had to learn the hard way I guess :p

Cheers
Martin

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Hey guys,

Well, I got the new controller, and I'm not really sure about all the extra functionality yet, as I haven't had a chance to test that out...
I think I need to print a manual or something, because all the buttons do extra stuff now... Coming from a regular GT3b radio, I obviously don't know what these are... YET! :D

I pulled my jet boat down too, as I wanted to rebuild it, at the same time as I build my new jet boat... Doing that, I took the servo out, and put it into the Musculus... Bloody hell, it wasn't the radio or the receiver that had died... it was the servo... Aaaargghhh... [&o]

So now I'm going to try get a few servos, so that I've got a couple as spares as well as replacing the one in the Musculus... I will be putting the servo from the jet boat into the Musculus while waiting or the new ones to show up :)
I can't wait that long for a 4S test!!! :D
Now, I also put a little pod into the hull, so that I can sit the ESC on that. Additionally, I also siliconed all potential leaks, as I kept getting water inside the hull when running the boat [X(]
I've re-painted a few scratches and what not on the boat as well as adding a nice red nose, like the original has as well :)

leak test is going to get done tonight, when all the paint has properly cured (did the painting yesterday)

Cheers
Martin

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

water test completed, no water came through into the hull :D
I've glued/ screwed the ESC in place, and that is now curing, ready for a possibly test tomorrow ;)
I still have to put a new servo into the boat, but should manage that tonight ;) WOOO, cannot wait!

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Would be interested to see a short video of wide open throttle!

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

wooohoo, just ran the boat on my way to work ;)
This boat/ setup is very suited to 4S!!! Sooo much more top end RPMs

I did not get a video of it, coz it was raining, and my camera doesn't like rain... I'll give it a go when the weather clears up.

While on the subject, bloody leaking water!!! It must be coming in through the flex shaft OR an o-ring is dead on the water cooling jacket...
Any tips on the greasing up of the flex shaft? Should it be a fair bit? I normally just grease it up lightly...

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

forgot to mention, with the 180 amp turnigy marine ESC and the motor I'm running, NOTHING became hot!! :D
The battery was a little warm, and the motor wires were a little warm... Like barely warm :p

I think I need to look at larger props for more speed :eek:

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

Ran my boat this morning after doing a bit of tuning :)
Drag was especially visible when I upped the power to 4S yesterday! It ran so fast that I had to tighten the bottom safety bolt on the rudder, as it kept popping up half way!!!

Asking around on the forum, I was recommended to sharpen the leading edge (sharpen the whole side of the rudder, not just the front 2mm)
It was also mentioned that some of my problems could be helped by chopping a little off the rudder... But knowing how much was a bit of a guessing game...

The rudder was 135mm long, and I got to it with a hack saw! HA! :) I cut 8mm off the rudder, making it about 127mm... I cleaned up the cut with a file and rounded the front a little, as it was before.

I also used some fine wet and dry and cleaned up the prop a bit, seems a lot more balanced now ;)

Combining those two things and a completely new grease up of the flex shaft, I headed down to the pond.
I only got the one 4S battery through the boat, but man did that thing fly! Sooo much more stable, when hitting chop, it doesn't go too crazy and start bouncing, like it did before... As a result, it's definitely faster, the 4S system suits much better than 3S, I'm sold! :) Need to look at some more batteries...

Bringing the boat back in, as the cut-off had stepped in, I accidentally hit a pylon [:@] right on the nose... and I cracked the two boat halves apart... It's been fixed now, and is sitting curing in the lounge now ;)

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

everyone loves pictures :)

Got one of the nose, which I pretty much hit dead on! LOL
Being a toy boat, out comes it's cr@ppy build quality, but I knew that ;) It's split nearly all the way down one side!!
So I bought some Araldite, which is this 2 pack glue that is pretty bloody strong! It even came with a mixing applicator, how great is that!
I held the two halves apart with a skewer, then pushed the glue onto the bottom part, plenty of! I pushed the two halves together and held that tight

While doing stuff, my order for 4 servos came in :D They happened to be wrapped in some bubble wrap, bonus! I could use that for flotation, in case I hit something further out, and it's worse [&:]

Anyways, I'm pretty sure the pics speak for them selves :) I haven't gotten a video yet, it's still pouring down, even worse now... My camping trip is off the cards too, boo to not being on the beach for 4 days!!

Hopefully I can get down to the pond and run the boat instead, which is always fun :)

Catch you later

RE: Brushless Balaenoptera Musculus
 

PS. anyone had any problems with using WD-40 as a water repellent on your gear?
I'm using it, and it seems to do the trick, but I was wondering about any long term effects? is there something better, or is this OK?