Right !
I thought id try something.......... I had originally set my boat up on the 1st channel on my Futaba transmitter, so decided to simply try setting up 2nd channel for same boat. hey presto, I now have forward/reverse on the joystick [L/H].

but I then lost all drive power ! aarrgghh. fortunately loss of power traced to the original boats builders desire to use "choc strip" connectors for all the electrical wiring, not too bad an idea you may well think, but after screwing them down to the bottom hull wood support, thye had obviously had a bit of water seepage creep in, presumidly when the water cannons were used and the hoses came off due to back pressure!.

So me think its time to dig out all the wiring in the hull, and replace with new stuff, re routing all joins/connections to a safe height in the hull away from water potential.

lesson learn't here. dont take for granted what someone else has done before, check, check yourself.

Im just glad I hadnt taken it out on to some deep water somewhere and then lost power right in the middle!!

have to put this one down to one of the things of buying a secondhand boat. not everyone thinks of what happens "IF" water seeps in.

PS, word of warning, be careful of using electrical grease on servo/reciever connections, being as these guys run "low volts" the grease can act as a carrier and you can loose signals, so best to simply keep dry and clean.

no, Ive not used it on my boat, but have found this fact out from other sources.

thanks Ken, your suggestions and advice are just the words I needed. it has helped me greatly.
I have mounted the 2 electronic controller vertically on some balsa boards, which now make up the saides of the battery case.
I do have a "Y" lead, recently arrived from ebay, so can link the 2 of them together for now. I do like the idea of the electronic throttle/rudder control, as that would be simpler to install and calibrate than installing a bow thruster!

I do have a 12v 7 a/hr battery in "stock" so will try running it with this, and as you say, check the motor temperatures, if getting too hot, I'll get some cooling coils installed, as could even run them via the water pump for the fire monitors, so it definately pulls water through them.

many thanks again.

I willbe sorting out the water monitor controls shortly, but want to get it in the water and running first, then play with the "toys" later [ha ha]. But hopefully will get them rotatable via servo control too.

I would use the two speed controllers and connect with a "y" lead.The electronize is rated at 15A and you could easily pull this current if you use 12v on two motors. if you want to be able to control the motors independantly you can use an electronic mixer, this automatically slows one motor when you opperate the rudder control and on full rudder will actually reverse one motor and allow you to turn the boat in its own length.The Robbe motors are rated for 6-9.6 volts but should be ok on 12v just check the temp with your finger after a run you can always water cool them.Robbe suggest running with two 6V 5AH Gel cells wired for 6v. hope this helps.

incidentally, for those interested, Ive put the boat pics on the "boat build" blog section, so you can all see the originalk "as purchased" condition and also as it undergoes refit in dry dock.
Posted under "dusseldorf fire boat"

Thanks for advice.

Ive checked on the cables to the electronic speed controllers for the motors, and they have seperate power supply wires which go straigh to the battery supply, then just a 3 wire sensor wire to the radio reciever. So dependent on the controllers coping with 12v well enough, I suppose its time to try putting power in the beast and firing her up for the first time in my ownership.

Incidentally, regarding having 2 seperate motor controllers, would you simply use a "Y" cable and link together, rather than loose a channel on the radio [for another item operation] or wire seperately and reprogram the transmitter for a twin motor signal.

im unsure of having motors seperate, as afterall, it would only be on slow maneouvering wher you might need to run one engien forward, one reverse so to speak, normall running you would not need to run at different speeds so perhaps linking would be easier and also prevent risk of single motor overload,

I ran a 6 volt motorcycle battery in mine Robbe fireboat for years. it worked fine. I suspect the motors can handle more voltage if you're of a mind, though. My plan is to probably bump it up to 12V during its next renovation. As long as the speed controller can handle it, the motors should be good with about whatever you put to them.

I wouldn't worry so much about fire, either. if you melt down a motor, there should be no Ignition sources in there to burn.

Thanks for the prompt reply['s].

the controllers are "electronize type 43HX"

I understand what you say about this little "gizmo" acting as an electronic volt dropper for the power supply for the reciever/servo side of things, no problem.

As for price, its currently on ebay for 1.25 dollar AU, which I cant see the main dealer selling retail for, obviously, its plus delivery but to me personally its expected to cost only a further 4.50 dollar AU, as Ive seen retail prices as high as $17.00 US, so anything for a price saving eh?


my only other concern was for the motors, yes, ok I can buy replacement motors when these burn out, but didnt want to do so prematurely by supplying them with over voltage supply if it was just a simple case of fitting a lower voltage battery and just "upping" the battery capacity [ by running twin 6v in parallel] or just 1 - 12v and and risk burnout. I appreciate the controllers vary the voltage as thats how they control the speed of the motor, but if going full throttle for any continual amount of time could supply "over volts" to the controllers and then forward to the motors.

Call me "over cautious", but hate to blow things up in seconds.
I had enough of that when I first tried to fly a radio controlled helicopter, took me 3 years to be just able to hover the thing ! no, dont ask how many sets of rotor blades that was in total. I stopped counting after 9 sets

You can buy direct from this firm with pay pal I order all the time so do a lot of people I know .they do sell on ebay as well. but have buy it now sales as well the battery supplies the volts to the speed ctr which sends it to the motors the BEC connects to the battery and supplies the volts to the reciver this powers the servo for the rudder and the speed controler'S or anything pluged in to the reciver what electronize speed ctr do you have as some have a bec already in case they do remove the red wire from the speed controlers plugs middle wire just lift the little bar on the plug pull it back and tape it up this will make shore you have no problems.keep the questions comming

peter

Ok, so this covers the power supply to the reciever, but whjat about the direct voltage supply to the motor controllers? am I ok to run a 12v gel battery? or lower voltage with these Robbe geardrive motors?

Please respect I may not be as knowledgable as your good self, so it takes a little explaining to put things across, not everyone has had numerous years of experience in the hobby.

I simply dont wish to damage the boat in any way, so would sooner ask advise first and then take action to put peoples suggestions in to practise.

I have sourced these controllers you mentioned, as far as I can see, only supply is either USA, or Austrailia [via ebay - cheapest], so have logged a bid one one.

this is what it is linked to

Turborix 3A External Switchable MU-061 U-BEC

it's a bec , it has a wide range of input and a 4.8 or 5volt output for the receiver just connect to the main battery and plug in receiver

Ive clicked on the link you sent me [many thanks] but it seems to send me to a web site for a controller?

im only asking what power supply voltage the battery pack I install needs to be.

the boat already has 2 electronize power controllers for each robbe motor.

applogies if I didnt make my request clear, but thought it read simply enough about power supply volts.

I just need ot know what volyage battery would be ok, without damaging either the controlers, motors, or reciever gear [if I can power all from one power source].

just get one of these


http://www.r2hobbies.com/proddetail.php?prod=rcps81706_ub

Peter