Richr

Greetings, I am new to this. My wife bought me a Shockwave 26 Brushless as a gift. What are the best batteries I can put in this fine machine? Also, what kind of speeds can I expect and how many extra battery packs should I keep on hand. What are your thoughts on the deans connectors? Thank you so much for the help! Richr totally new

pompebled

Hi Richr,

Welcome on this forum!

The stock battery for the Shockwave is a 2S Lipo (or 6 NiMH, but those are fading out), which gives you a rather sedate running boat (entry level speed).
Once you're acustomed to handling the boat at 2S, you may want to ugrade to 3S, or even 4S, though that may be pushing it a bit, as the steering outdrive isn't designed for that kind of power and will wear quickly.

Make sure the stock ESC can handle more voltage, ask the seller, or check with Proboat, chances are you'll need a bigger ESC to be able to run higher Voltages.

Deans connectors are fine for the boat at hand, no problems there.

Enjoy running your boat!

Regards, Jan.

Richr

Thanks so much! Will keep you posted. Love this site.. Thanks!!

badboy2

My Feedback: (13)

congrats on the shockwave !!! the shockwave can only run 7.4v lipo..so as long as its 7.4v youre good..
great people in here ...enjoy your shockwave skipper!!

Visual Perfection

On a 6 cell Nimh (7.2v battery pack) you should see speeds of about 23-24mph

Keep in  mind the stock prop is not going to last you more than a run, if even that on this boat...it likes to break

Order yourself an Octura x435 2 blade prop that is sharpened and balanced. I would order from here, as myself and another member with this boat have both done this and they do great work!

http://cmdracing.com/updated/main.htm

emal them and tell them you need a x435 2 BLADE prop for your shockwave 26 brushless (3 blade has been shown to wreck stock ESC's running a 2s lipo)

On a 2s Lipo on that prop mine is running just about 30mph which for a beginner is a very quick boat. I love the boat and it is a blast to drive!

3s lipo on stock esc is NOT going to happen...it will also fry the stock ESC. Start off with NiMh if you have them and then try the 2s Lipo...if you are starting from scratch, don't waste your time on NimH batteries, just go the Lipo route right away.

Hope that helps some. You can find more info on this boat in several threads in the Speed Electric section of the boats forum

JawzSS

im "the other member" with the shockwave mentioned above lol, welcome to the site. As he stated above there is absolutly no way your stock shockwave can handle any more than 2s. Down the road, once you get comfortable with the boat and want to further customize it for more speed you are going to have to upgrade your esc to a higher amperage.

These boats are great, however, the esc is very finiky. For example I got the 3 blade version of the prop that visual is talking about above and that fried my esc simply becuase of the added strain and torque.

Dont get me wrong the stock prop NEEDSto be replaced, as it will disintegrate on you most likly in your first run...at which point the true McGiver will come out of you in finding ways to retrieve the damn thing lol..but not to worry you. Stick with the Octura x435 (35mm) prop fromhttp://cmdracing.com/updated/main.htm they are great.

As for batteries, I got a decent 2s battery made by Venom called Li-power..you may have seen adds for these batteries on the site. There are, however, many to choose from. For now, get yourself the new prop, 2s 5000mah (or around there) lipo battery, and a charger and you should be set.

Richr

What not to to to your Boat.
Any condolences or suggestions would be appreciated.

pompebled

Hi Rich,

Please explain how you managed to burn a hole in the side of your boat and a nice square one at that?

Regards, Jan.

toklat

also get a metal propeller. the stock ones are usally platic. it will increase your speed by about 3 mph. and it gets on plane faster and handles better.

Richr

So you saw the pictures...... I used a 7.4v 5000mah 2s lipo battery. Next, I changed the prop to a smaller three blade propeller. Then..... i am not sure what happened....Smoke and flames!
After some investigating it may have been my fault (go figure). If used a high power battery, and a smaller propeller, the prop will draw more power from the battery, causing the esc to heat up. If this process continues for a while and the temp of the esc remains unchecked...it could possibly overheat enough to melt a square hole through the hull of the boat? It could have been arson? This hobby is hard.

pompebled

Hi Rich,

If the three bladed prop has the same surface as the stock one, the watercooled(!) ESC should not have burst into flames on 2S (7,4V).
(As a rule of thumb, a threebladed prop draws slightly more current than a two bladed one, but if the stock ESC can't handle that, it was too light for that set-up anyway, 30A isn't much.)

Granted, the 5000mAH gives you a long runtime, but you didn't mention how long the run was before this happened.
The only thing I can come up with is that you ran the boat at half throttle for long periods of time; this heats up both motor and ESC substantually, despite the watercooling.
Partial throttle is not the way to run a speedboat, specially if it's a RTR one where the components selected are on the edge as far as reliability is concerned.

Did you tape the hatch? A few drops inside reaching the ESC may cause the same result.

If none of the above apply I would call Proboat and see what can be done under warranty.

Regards, Jan.

Richr

Jan,

Thank you so very much for the help!
I was running half throttle for a while..3 to 4 minutes..I had only had it in the water about 10 minutes or so?
The battery was charging for about 50 minutes before i took it out..The charger did not say full..but i took it out any way....i had the battery taped it with blue painters tape..not velcro
So maybe that had something to do with it? I did place a small piece of tape in the front of the hatch because it kept blowing off.

I am not sure if I want to buy another boat try...or hang up my captains hat for good!
again,
Thanks so much for the help!


Boatless in Myrtle Beach,
Rich

pompebled

Hi Rich,

The charge of the battery, or the way it's attached doesn't affect the heating up, just shortens the runtime.

Running 3-4 minutes at half throttle is a long time and is most likely the cause of the fire.

Did you try the warranty thing? (don't mention the half throttle running...)

You don't need to buy another boat, just fix this one and get a better ESC and you're up and running!

Regards, Jan.

Richr

Jan,
Thank you again!

Ok, I am going to try that!

I actually have another Shockwave 26 brushless. That one is not working either. Which is why my wife bought me a second boat (how nice of her) and then I burned it up.
With the first Shockwave...It seemed to be working fine..Except the motor was spinning but the propeller was not..Like the motor was not connected to anything..like it was stripped or something.. Then i tightened all of the screws on the motor coupling..It worked for a few minutes..then just stopped.. The propeller does not spin now..The motor coupling seems to be fused to the driveshaft (or something)...

If i remove the screws (2) from the motor coupling, remove the prop and the prop shaft...Should the piece that connects to the motor come out of the boat? I think this is the drive shaft?
because It does not..?

So this is my second attempt at the Shockwave.

Thanks again for the help!

What type of set up are you running?

Boatless in Myrtle Beach,
Rich R

pompebled

Hi Rich,

From what I can see on the precious few 'tech pics' on the Proboat site, the set-up looks rather straight forward:

- motor on motormount
- solid coupler
- solid shaft towards the universal joint in the steering outdrive
- the outdrive itself

If I were you, I'd make some (well focused) pictures of the stock situation and start unscrewing parts until you have all parts of the drive train loose and on the workbench.

If the coupler won't come loose, because the grubscrews have eaten away at the shaft, some brute force may be required.
Never mind if some part doesn't come out undamaged, as you have a second boat for spare parts...

If the coupler wont come off, remove the motor and loosen the universal joint on the transom and push the shaft into the boat.
Make sure that the rough spots from the grubscrews are filed flat first or you'll damage the bearings in the process...

Once you've gotten everything out, check the bearings for wear.
Also check if every shaft (motor and propshaft(s)) have flat spots where the grubscrews grab it; without flat spots there's the risk of grubscrews loosing grip, damaging your shaft.

If every part looks good, or has been fixed to look good (like filing flat spots on the ends) re-assemble the drive train, making sure everything is lubed properly and there's no binding, specially on the solid coupler to the propshaft.

Secure the grubscrews, not by over tightening them, but by a drop of loctite, or nail polish (which is easier to loosen if requiered), their correct seating on the flat spots prevents slipping.

Let us know how things progress.

Regards, Jan.

Richr

Jan,

Thank you again for the help.

I followed your instructions. Word by Word. As you can see the grub screws did dig into the drive shaft. Stripping it.
What is that black dust under the motor coupler?
Is the drive shaft suppose to come out through the back of the boat or thru the inside. I took out the motor and then slid it through the inside as the coupler was stuck on the drive shaft and needed "brut force" to come unstuck.
If the drive shaft strips and the motor keeps spinning could that heat up the ESC?

thanks again!!

Made some progress
still boatless

Rich R

pompebled

Hi Rich,

The black dust is from the propshaft and inside bearing wearing away at eachother, or if it's lubed too ethousiastically, it's muck from the bearing and propshaft mixed with grease.

Judging from the picture, there's no flatspot for the grubscrew on the propshaft, I'd file one on it.
While you're at it, see if you can straighten out the damage from the slipping grubscrew.

If the driveshaft slips, the boat doesn't move, hence there's no flow in the cooling system, so both ESC and motor will tend to heat up.
If on top of that, the motor is running at half throttle, you run the risk of a fire, due to overheating the ESC.

If the propshaft it smooth at both ends it should be able to slide in/out from the inside and the outside, whatever works best.

Regards, Jan.

Richr

Ok, i will try... I am going to order a new driveshaft tonight. I have a Much better idea what happened now. Many Many Thanks to you! I know I burned the boat myself, but I find it odd that Proboat would sell a stock boat that the propeller just shreds on the first run. Also, the drive shaft is stripped on boats and the boats are Brand New!
Anyway...My wife wants to get me another boat. She feels very bad for me.. Was thinking of something similar, like the Formula FASTech Brushless Deep-V (also Broboat?) or the X- Blaze from banana hobby...
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Maybe I will hold off for a while... I have done enough damage.

Thanks so very much !

Rich R

pompebled

Hi Rich,

The 'problem' with RTR boats is, that there is no such thing; the boats are assembled at best and often not very good.

When you purchase a 'RTR' boat, you'll have to take it apart and rebuild it from the ground up, making sure every bolt is tightened and secured if required with Loctite, every hole in the hull is checked for leaks and fixed if necessary, the drivetrain is re-assembled, properly lubed and alligned, so there's no binding, while filing flat spots on the shafts if the factory has omitted that.

Once you've rebuild the boat, you're familiar with every nook and cranny and should be able to tell what to do if an issue occurs.

Now youre ready for the fun part, running the boat and dialing it in on the waterconditions at hand.
Keep in mind, it often takes me the better part of a boating season before one of my new boats is dialed in and runs the way I want it to.

Regards, Jan.

Richr

Yes.. I see that now. You have been a tremendous help .. Thanks so much! I will work more on my new "hobby" over the weekend

Sept Oct and Nov are beautiful in Mrtyle Beach SC and should offer Great weather for Boating Plus there is water everywhere..
Ant thoughts on the new Traxxas Titan ?

They say it can reach 30 plus Mph out of the box and 50 mph with some good lipos .
It is due out sometime soon,

Any thoughts on how to get a dead duck out of the drink.
I want to prepare myself. .. Just in case?
thanks again
rich r

pompebled

Hi Rich,

I've only seen the promotional video's of the TT, and the boat looks good.
Driven by a seasoned boater it looks as if the boat can take a lot, but you'll need experience to run a plastic boat at 30 mph, let alone at 50 mph.

A unlucky chosen pond (like too small and with concrete bankings) and a little careless steering, while not accustomed to the high speed can rapidly convert your boat into an unrecognisable pile of rubble...
Make sure to tape the hatch, this boat can be flipped like every other boat.

If the pond is shallow enough you can wade out to retreive a dead boat, otherwise wait until the wind blows it into range and retreive it with a tennisball on a fishing pole (cast it over the boat until it hooks on), never swim for a dead boat, I don't need to read more postings about a boater drowning while trying to get a boat out of the water, specially in Myrtle Beach SC!

If the boat didn't hit anything, or got run over by something, normal procedure is to bring the boat back in as soon as you see the speed dropping; this is a sure sign the batteries are almost depleted.
Most ESC's have a low voltage cut off, that will stop the motor when the batteries are drained, usually you can get the boat back on half throttle, provided it's not half a mile out (when that happens and you try to get the boat back, the ESC will cut out again and you risk deep discharging your batteries, moderately bad for a set of matched NiMH, killing for a set of lipo's, so don't do that!)

Regards, Jan.

Richr

Hey Jan,

Thanks for all the help.

I wanted to keep you posted...I have taken apart both Shockwave boats. I was able to get the drive shaft out of only one of the boats (the one without the hole in the side).
I did take plenty of high quality pictures, as well as wrote down exactly the steps i used..
My wife called customer service ..and they want me to ship back the boats and then they will access the situation. It can't hurt.
I will keep everyone posted.

Thanks again,

Rich R

carwen

The pro boat 30A esc is comepletely waterproof and can be submerged no problem. A three bladed prop is not recommended and will not work according to horizon hobby. If your not feeding the esc too much than it can handle, having a long runtime wont effect the esc with the watercooling. Horizon hobby might send you another one but i doubt that cause you kinda messed up the warranty when you tried using a 3 bladed prop.

carwen

your hatch should not have kept blowing off, it has a strong magnet, mine works fine. I run my shockwave with 8000mah 2s lipo at full throttle almost all the time. It runs like 7-9min. It should not effect the esc unless you detached watercooling. If your battery was swelling, that might have been problem. Did you make sure it was ok before run? You should also wait for the battery to completely cool before running it after charges.

carwen

I have had the same prob, you must apply thread lock or it will just keep spinning the screw off. The rpm on that will spin the set screw loose.