Geoboat

HELP! OK, I'm a novice. I bought a couple of boats for my pool and/or pond use and they turned out to be toys. Disappointing at best. It was suggested through this forum that for pool use I try a Kyosho Mini Cat. Well, it arrived the other day and I patiently tried to read the instruction book, charged the batteries, and launched. It did not run like in the videos I had seen. It made kind of a grinding noise and sort of putted around, then all of a sudden it took off like I thought it should, running smooth. Unfortunately, my excitement was short lived, lasting only a few seconds before it stopped completely. Total run time wasn't more than about two minutes. I noticed in the instructions that I should apply grease to the shafts, but that seemed a little vague.
So, I guess my questions are:
Could the shafts need grease and aren't spinning freely? What kind of grease should I use and where should I apply it?
How long should a charge last?
And any other things I should know that I don't know I don't know?

Dan S

Geo,

I just had a look at your first post and I am one of two guy's that replied to it.

who suggested that you should buy a Kyosho mini cat????

out of the 3 boats I told you to look at, 2 are pro boat and 1 is Aquacraft.

Dan.

HoaRC

Geoboat, RC is not an easy hobby when you are starting out, but it gets better as you go. Let's look at the kyosho mini cat more closely. I am sure that with a little help from the forums, you can get it up and running.

That's the problem, right there - the BATTERY is not doing it's job.

Which battery are you using and how are you charging it, my friend?

Geoboat

Dan
Your reply to my first post simply said Mini Rio, Mini V, and Mini Cat, without mentioning a brand and since I had stated that I intended to use it in a pool and was looking for something in the 10"-12" range, I assumed you were referring to the Kyosho as the others are much longer. But that's history at this point as I've purchased the boat and am confident that with some help and advice, I can get it to perform as I've seen in videos, which will be plenty fast for my pool and neighborhood pond until I am ready for something else.

HoaRC
I'm using the battery that came with the boat. It's a Kyosho No. 71303 6V-150mAh Ni-MH and I'm charging it per the instructions: 3 minutes, no longer.
I don't know how familiar you are with this particular model, and I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that part of the problem is that the shaft is slipping. There's a universal type joint in the shaft at the rudder so that the steering is achieved by the prop moving with the rudder and there seems to be considerable play. Since my first post this evening, I made an attempt to close the gap between the main shaft and the shorter shaft that goes through the rudder and that seemed to help, but when I turn quickly to the extreme, either left or right, the ball on the end of the short shaft seems to come out of the socket on the end of the main shaft.
And by the way, thanks for you courtesy.
Geo

Dan S

Geo,

sorry, I should have mentioned the companies and I didn't really check to see how long the boat were exactly.

just looked now, they are 14inches, not too bad.

Dan.

Russ Williamson

Hi Geo,
I checked out the manual and exploded parts view for your mini-cat.

Would suggest to be sure the battery is getting fully charged. It should be slightly warm when fully charged. By all means, never leave the battery unattended while charging.

With the battery unplugged; hold the coupler (the part between the motor and drive shaft) and try to carefully turn the prop by hand. Don't twist it too hard, just see if something is loose. If you can rotate the prop the coupler/drive cable is loose or the drive dog. The drive dog on your mini-cat is the "nut" that that prop engages into. Possible the prop is spinning on this nut.

Thereafter, if still not resolved, play around with the settings on the transmitter. The throttle trim might be turned and not allowing full throttle.

This is all part of the hobby. It is awesome. The more you do it the more enjoyable it gets!!! It is even more fun when you get 2 or 3 others to race around with at the same time!

Have fun!
Russ

HoaRC

That's good advice, and once you do everything above, if you are still having short run time, you might think about changing the battery to one with same voltage, but more capacity.

Geoboat

As for the battery being fully charged or not, what's "warm"?
After three minutes, it's certainly warmer than it was, but not by much, at least as far as I can tell by touch. I mean, it's certainly not too warm to hold and I would further describe it as slightly warmer than body temperature.
Thanks for your help

LtDoc

'Warm' is very subjective, and I have no idea how to tell you how to judge that. A 3 minute charge time seems like it's a bit fast. That's also a bit subjective, especially since I haven't messed with that particular battery and charger. Something you might try is to charge it a number of times (waiting for it to cool to 'normal' temperature between charges) and see if that makes a difference in run times. The advice about a larger capacity (mAh) isn't a bad thing. The problem with that is will a 'larger' battery fit, and not sink the boat? Beats me, I don't know.
Good luck!
- 'Doc

Geoboat

Thanks, I'll try that.
What's the down side of over charging? Explosion, fire, death or dismemberment?

LtDoc

To some ridiculous extent, any of the above, sort of. I seriously doubt if I'd worry about the high end of that 'list' of things. I also doubt if I'd stick it in my back pocket while it was changing! Heat is probably the simplest thing to watch for. If it gets considerably 'warmer' than what appears to be normal, quit charging it. Then again, that back pocket thingy might be a means of monitoring the temp, you think? It's your _ _ _ so be careful, you know?
- 'Doc

(Wring all the "giggles" out of the above and you're in the ball park. Finding the right 'seat' isn't always simple. All puns intended!)

ibyte69

if a little tiny boat like the kyosho kills you im done with rc boating in all seriousness Geoboat with anything that deals with electricity or water just be careful. when you start charging big nimh batts and lipos then we can talk about all your afermentioned calamitys[X(]

Geoboat

I have the little bugger running better now by playing with the drive shafts. My suspicions about the ball and socket type universal joint slipping due to end play apparently were correct, but there's still the problem of losing thrust during a hard turn because there seems to be an inherent problem with the joint binding. Since there's already a servo on board to move the prop/rudder unit side to side, I'm contemplating modifying the set up and adding a seperate rudder. But then that's added weight.
I'm still playing with the batteries. I've tried charging them the recommended time, letting them cool, and charging again. Haven't noticed much difference in run time, but heaven't noticed a discernible difference in temperature either. I think I'll try charging them until I think they're what I'd consider warm or warmer.
It's still not very fast, but I purchased the "faster" motor with the boat and haven't tried that yet, nor have I messed with different flaps to see of I can get it to plane better.
So far the only thing on the plus side with this boat is it's size. It's a good fit for my pool.