Hi Isaac.
I like your approach.

You're right horns and sirens are too much fun.
I'm thinking of putting a foghorn on my model under construction or in a future one.
For the moment, ready-made foghorn kits seem too expensive to me.
If I have time in the future, I will try to assemble one myself.

For LEDs and especially for their power supplies, if I can be of help, it will be a pleasure for me (even in pm).
In the meantime, if you feel like it, you can read the following topics.
You may find some useful information.
If you have the patience to read message n.4.
There are detailed explanations.
I think it could be useful to you.

forum/135645

forum/136310

Alessandro

Thank you for your input. I always consider other people experience, especially when it comes to electrical things. I am a Mechanical engineer, so I look at electronics and electricals as black boxes. Input in and output out. And I always confirm, check and confirm again before I connect things.

Yes, this boat does have a separate rudder servo. It is the primary mechanism for steering.

I have stripped all of the existing lighting ( they are too small and very low intensity, useless even in the evening ). I am replacing them with LEDs that will have their own LiPo 3S ( 11.1 volt ) batteries. I may go down to 2S if there is no visual difference.

I am also eliminating the bilge pump. It was just for show and there is no point in making it functional since all the upper deck hatches are low to the waterline and a good wave will flood the interior anyway.

As for the horn and sirens, I love them. They work great and make lots of noise. I re attached the big speaker to the inside of one of the smoke stacks.


Please keep commenting with technical observations.

👍

Isaac

Hi Isaac, I think this is fine.

you wrote:
"Got it. To be clear, snip only the red wire from two of the ESC/BEC, but leave the third one intact with the red wire.
then connect each to its own separate channel on the receiver."

All correct in my opinion.

you wrote:
"As an aside, I will add extension cables to each one of the ESC's, but snip and insulate the red from two of the extensions. This way the full configuration on the ESC's is retained."

Very good.


Sorry if I was too detailed in my explanations, don't be offended if you already knew all the things I told you, but I have noticed (on other occasions) that taking things for granted is wrong.
Furthermore, I like to analyze the reasons behind some technical choices.
Many modelers do what they have always seen done without even understanding or asking themselves why.

The diagram you posted is fine in my opinion.

I noticed you don't have a rudder servo on the receiver, I'm guessing you'll just use the motors to turn.
You have many loads attached to the receiver, you will surely have already checked that the sum of their maximum currents does not exceed the current tolerable by the receiver.
The currents of the lights (if LEDs) and the siren are usually very low, I don't know how much the pump can absorb. In any case, I would do a little check calculation if I were you.

I agree with your choice to put fuses in the circuit.
Not everyone agrees with the use of fuses. I'm one of those in favor of using fuses.
I would also put them between the motor and the esc (but I know I'm exaggerating).
If you are interested, some time ago there was a discussion in these topics.
They can be interesting for evaluating the positions to be assigned to the fuses and their ratings in Amperes.

forum/130229

forum/130156

Got it loud and clear and so it shall be done..


Thank you Lew.


Isaac

Correct. This issue is actually simple and should not need to be explained in great depth. Your receiver only needs ONE power source, period. Each ESC supplies power from their BEC. Each battery is a power source. Just choose which one you want to use.

Using multiple batteries (matched) is another issue, but you are not asking about that.

Lew
Florida 😎, USA

Lew / Allessandro

Got it. To be clear, snip only the red wire from two of the ESC/BEC, but leave the third one intact with the red wire.

then connect each to its own separate channel on the receiver.

Correct?


As an aside, I will add extension cables to each one of the ESC's, but snip and insulate the red from two of the extensions. This way the full configuration on the ESC's is retained.


Attached is the schematics that reflects this configuration.


Thank you all again



Isaac

Yes, Isaac, it would be better to cut the two red wires (central positive) for the reasons I told you in the previous message.

To isolate the two red cables (positive of the two BECs) you can use the method you prefer.
I advise you to cut (or remove) the positives on the extensions (male-female) never on the original BEC wiring.

Yes, snip the wire leaving a gap and insulate the ends so there is no chance of contact.

Better yet, pry the contact pin for the red wire and remove it from the 3 pin plug. This way you can reuse the ESC if needed by restoring the connection.

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA

An explanation of what I want to do.

I have 3 brushed motors each having its own ESC / BEC controller.

There is one battery powering the entire drive system. All 3 ESC/BEC are in parallel to a single battery.

Each ESC/BEC is then connected to a separate channel on the receiver.


So my question was :

Should I snip the red wire of two of the ESC/BEC or is it OK to connect each to the receiver just like a regular servo.


Thanks

Isaac

Hi Isaac.

I wish I could help you but I may have misunderstood your questions and needs due to the translation, in which case please feel free to correct me.

So, first of all I take it for granted that this radio receiver has all the central positive pins in electrical continuity with each other.
I also take it for granted that all the negative pins are in electrical continuity with each other.
If it's not like that it changes everything so tell me. If you don't know you can easily check it.

I have to ask you a few questions, do ESCs have built-in BECs?
Maybe you already wrote it, if so sorry.

Are you using a single battery for all ESCs (common to the three ESCs) or do you intend to put one battery for each ESC?

In the first case (a single battery for all the ESCs) a single BEC is sufficient to power the receiver and the servomechanisms.
If you connect three BECs you provide three supplies in parallel.
If the three voltages coming from the three BECs are identical there are no problems (in my opinion) but it is a completely superfluous and disadvantageous solution.
You can make a voltage measurement between positive and negative of each BEC to verify this.
Two BECs are active (with related losses due to the Joule effect) to no avail.
The BEC lowers the battery voltage to what is needed to power the receiver and servos. In this transformation energy will be lost, more or less depending on the performance of the BEC.
All at the expense of battery life.
For this reason I power the receiver and servos with the correct voltage directly with a dedicated battery, but that's another matter.
In short, to answer your question (if I understood it correctly) putting three BECs in parallel, in the case in which these BECs receive energy from the same single battery it makes no sense.
The only advantage could be that if one BEC breaks you have the others as backup but it seems a bit small to me to justify such a configuration.
You could isolate the positives of two out of three BECs and leave only the negative and signal cables (which controls the ESC).

Let's talk about the second case only if you intend to do it, otherwise it is useless.
Even in this case a single BEC is sufficient but it might make more sense to connect them all to three, depending on some hypothetical specific needs.

I'll give you some advice, buy extensions like the ones in the photo if you don't already have them.
Get various male-male, female-female, male-female and Y-extension extensions, they will be very useful to you.
For example, if you want to isolate a positive you will insert the extension with the positive cut without damaging or tampering with the original wiring of the servos or BEC.
Extension cords will be very useful for easily carrying out voltage and current measurements whenever you need them.
If you want, I'll tell you how I use them to take measurements.

I like that you make these old radios work, I've never had one in my hands. It was an old AM transmitter but must have been good quality in my opinion.