|
|
|
Doug, the loaner was bound to the guy's DX5e in DSMX, but I will keep saying for pmdevlin's sake that both Orange Receiver and my Tx. says compatible with both protocols, but the Spektrum loaner wouldn't bind. I bought a 6 volt Rx battery pack especially for this and it's giving just over 6Volts. I bought 4 new Duracells for the TX. (all said above), so all is well on the volts front. The Orange in fact is OK for 3.7-9.4 volts it says. I did all you suggest , but no flashing lights on TX and no end OR change to the frequency of, flashing lights on Rx, either of them. Doug, isn't your stabiliser Orange Rx. also compatible with both? When did orange go single protocol, I wonder. Martin
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hello, Doug: I had everything ready to take the voltage readings this morning except for one minor detail: the 7.2v battery pack was dead so I had to plug it in to charge. It should be ready by mid-afternoon today. In the meantime I’ve got a few questions about connectors. As I said earlier I want to install connectors in the existing wiring that runs up into the deck house & pilot house. I’ll do the same with the new wiring that’ll go to the mast LEDs, too. I’d like to use miniature multi-conductor plugs & sockets with male & female conductors that solder onto the cut & stripped wires. Presently there are (10) wires for LED lighting, (2) for the pilot house lamp, (2) for the smoke generator & (2) for the smoke “blower” - (16) wires all together. At this point I don’t know how many wires there’ll be all together. Do you think a single connector for all of the wires is a good idea or would it be better to use several small connectors? Last of all, do you know of a source for small or miniature connectors? Radio Shack’s site lists connectors but they look too bulky. The conductor pins & sockets used with them appear to be designed for much larger gauge wires than the skinny wires in the tug. I’ve looked at several other sites but the technical nomenclature used for something as simple as connectors give me a headache. Help, please?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Water trials have been delayed by trying to resolve the challenges with my HMS Brave Borderer project drivetrain. As those efforts have been halted, waiting for new components, decided to complete the Teakwood water trails. First battery trails used 8 x 1.2 Ni-Mh cells is series, giving 9.6 volts. This was unsuccessful as the battery life was only minutes. Lesson from this is not to buy cheap Ni-Mh cells from an Oriental source. Tried 2 x 7.4 Ni-Mh packs is series giving 14.8 volts. Vessel was far too fast and throttle control poorly modulated. Was thinking of fitting a voltage reducer with this battery layout so could adjust the top speed. Have done this before and it works well. When searching in my box of bits found a voltage step up increaser. Never used this before so rewired the Ni-Mh packs to parallel and adjusted the output voltage to 10 volts to see how it worked. Result is a nicely performing model with an usable top speed potential for emergency, Duration of the first run comfortable exceeded 1 ½ hours, which am satisfied with. The cells are positioned around mid hull to supplement the fitted ballast. From the pictures the model has all the grace and style of the original vessel and sails well. In conclusion, a successful project that justifies the many hours spent in building and refining the model
|
|
|
|
|
|
Doug, if you have an Orange Rx. like mine, the bit where the plugs go is on the end face, so when you tip the battery wire on its side to plug in, the red wire is indeed uppermost, the black wire, bottommost. The Spektrum Rx. has the plug bit in the top face, so the uppermost, red lead goes through a right angle and goes downwards, but yes, in the middle. I made sure of the polarity first, but that bit you mentioned meant nothing to me, just symbols. I didn't want to trust them if I didn't understand them. The bind plug did indeed go in the slot marked bind. On the Orange Rx. it says BIND/BATT. I didn't plug any servos in as it isn't necessary and I didn't have them to hand without fishing them out of the restricted space in my Vanity model. I have now watched so many you-tubes and read so many instructions that I can assure you I got the order right. Bind plug has never been out of the Orange Rx, except to assure myself of good contact. Battery pack plugged into AUX> socket, flashing yellow light, Tx. tother side of workshop, pull on trainer switch and turn on power. Beedlyboop noise, light on right hand side of array, but NO flashing on Tx. Hold trainer switch till will to live starts to ebb, give up. The Spektrum you show, Doug is the same, albeit with different aerials, but the guy assures me it bound to his DX5e before he sent it to me for the trial. Your Orange however is very different from mine. Mine, as I said, has the pins poking out the end and the writing where your pins are. Yes, it has an S in the case, which I read meant signal, not that I knew what that was. It is a much smaller box than yours. Now you can see why I spoke of uppermost as my battery cable has to go on its side to plug into my Orange and in that position the red wire is indeed, uppermost. If you see the normal position for the Rx. to be flat on it's back with the pretty stuff on top. So, what else can it be? I will try what you suggested about the metal free garden, tomorrow and after that we will have to wait till the Fly Sky arrives, estimated E.T.A., early next month. Your PTB looks very bare. Had you always intended to strip the tubes and rudders too? Now, you have to paint the insides a nice neutral colour, like Spitfire Cockpit green, which is also Jaguar cockpit green, but Maseratis were silvery grey. Don't ask how I know...long story Cheers, Martin
|
|
|
|
|
|
Evenin' Martin, What does "uppermost" mean ?? The negative (black) of the battery lead should be towards the edge of the RX. The red positive is always in the middle however you put the plug in. The Bind plug is only a short circuit between the negative and signal pins. It should ONLY EVER be put into the socket labelled "Bind/VCC". The battery you can put in any other socket, Black towards the edge of the RX case. NOTE: In the DX5e manual there is a warning about Binding and connection problems when the TX is very close to the RX, less than 4 feet, and/or if there are metal objects close to either TX or RX. The latter can cause reflections of the TX signal to be interpreted as interference or 'noise' and prevent connection. The RX looks for a series of uncorrupted signal packets to be able to Bind, and subsequently 'connect' to it's own TX. Binding simply 'teaches' the RX the GUID (Global Unique IDentification) of 'it's own' TX. Try the binding out in the garden (take a brolly with you as required 😁) away from metal objects and walls etc. With TX and RX at least 6 feet apart. Good luck, cheers, Doug 😎
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vero also from The Component Shop in N.Wales .Order £ 3 or more/of anything/ from them and get a free catalogue. Excellent firm / service. Battery packs made to order if what you want isn't in Catalogue. Just one example of their great service.😋👍
|
|
|
|
|
|
Evenin' Martin, Oh dear oh dear oh dear! 😲 There is some good advice above, but maybe not optimally expressed for use by a Luddite! Sorry guys but this might be a relatively long post to separate the wheat from the chaff, explode a few myths and resolve this little conundrum of Martin's! One thing at a time! NUMBER1. THE RADIO- Dear Martin: Whatever possessed a self confessed Luddite and Scrooge like you to spring a large chunk of your hard earned pension on one of the most expensive and complex RC sets on the market in the first place???? I bought a Spektrum DX6 on impulse a few years ago while strolling around Conrad here in Munich. I've regretted it ever since. In retrospect it was way too expensive >600€, and complex. It is intended for the Fly Boys, as unfortunately most sets are these days. I have still not successfully programmed it to do what I want to do, instead of what it is pre-programmed to do for helis and fixed wing aircraft. Not even with it's own Spektrum RX, let alone a 'foreign' RX like Orange. So I have not yet risked it in a model. Definitely NOT my Catalina. Since then I have bought a Turnigy I6. Which does the same as the Spektrum, works fine with my Orange RX with giro for the Catalina😉, cost only 69€ (is now available for around 33 quid😡) and within a few hours I had it programmed and tested to do all I want in my destroyer and Sea Scout.👍 In short: the Spektrum is way way way Overkill for your yacht or Fire Float or similar, where you will only ever want rudder and sail servo / winch or rudder and speed control. So flog the Spektrum and get a nice simple (and cheap😉) 2 or 4 channel set. I can't imagine you ever wanting to start building special effects into your models so 2 (max 4) channels is all you will probably ever need. Stick your Spektrum on eBay, maybe you'll get at least a 100 quid for it. If you still want to go 2.4Gig get yourself a Turnigy i6 set with RX, 6 ch but cheap enough and I can help you directly with binding and programming from experience - I have a good English manual with no Chenglish gobbledygook. If not and you still have a working 27 or 40MHz FM set (40 would be better) use that. Where you sail, all alone, who's going to bother you or be bothered? BTW: Yes the Spektrum TX IS DSM2 and DSX compatible BUT you have to tell it what you want to use!!! Frankly I think trying that with a non-Spektrum RX is risky - especially first time out and for a novice Luddite😉 NUMBER 2. THE NiMh BATTERY- Voltage is not a reliable indication of battery charge / remaining capacity. After use a battery will recover slightly when at rest and the open terminal (off load) voltage will rise, often to the nominal voltage or slightly above. This is NO indicator of remaining charge as when a load is applied the voltage will drop again rapidly, the higher the current drawn the faster the voltage drops. If it goes below 1.0V per cell the battery will be permanently damaged and never regain it's original capacity. Haverlock is dead right about batteries losing charge when not used or regularly recharged. An NiMh batt loses charge at the rate of about 1% per day so after 3 months or so you can send it to the great recycling depot in the sky and buy a new one. Periodic cycling, discharge / charge prevents / minimises this - see care hints I posted above. And yes, NiMh do have that irritating Memory effect🤔 albeit not so pronounced as with NiCads. Lipos apparently not, but I ain't seen any evidence yet - the jury is still out! Sooo - ignore the 6.37V and run the batt through a discharge and full charge cycle. If your new NiMh batt has not yet been cycled and charged I would bet that it's present capacity is about 45%. See example below (and in attached pic) of one of my new 4.8V (nom) NiMh RX batts. NUMBER 3. THE CAPACITY CHECKER - "Glorified voltmeter" ? Where did the 6.37V reading come from if not from your 'new toy'? If it is showing volts it should also be showing capacity in %age. If you received the wrong thing it's not the "bloody electrics" but the bloody nit who packed and sent it that's at fault. Before you send it back check the below😉 Send me a photo of the Checker you have and with your battery plugged in so I can see what's happening on the display. Otherwise we are all poking about in the dark (Are we back to Jules and his friend Sandy😉😲) The link I sent you was for a checker exactly the same as mine except for the labelling! As you can see in my photo, properly connected it shows the terminal voltage and the remaining capacity (charge level) of the battery pack. Forget the Nixx (=2 Ni possibilities) display, that just means 'It ain't a LiXX' (3 Li- pissibolities). Attached photo shows a brand new 4 cell NiMh RX pack 4.8V (Nominal) connected to one of my Checkers. As you can see the voltage shown is 5.19V, according to the popular 'folklore' that would seem to indicate FULL charge. Unfortunately not🤔 Capacity indication is 45% which is normal for brand new batteries in storage and transit. Explanation thereof - see above! RE: " If it can do LiPos, why not the relatively simpler NiMhs?" a) the LiPo pack has a different chemistry and construction which requires different input circuitry on the checker, b) LiPos need balancing and are fitted with Balancer Plugs which connect to the multipin connectors on the checker. Each pin connects to one cell of the LiPo so that they can be monitored individually. LiPo chargers use this to balance the cells to within 0.01V (100mV) or less by adjusting the charge / discharge currents to each cell. The checkers use this to show you the individual cell voltages and charge states. A big difference, i.e.lower V and capacity, indicates cells with faults, e.g. higher internal resistance, or a discharged pack which needs charging and balancing. NiMh packs don't usually have this facility to measure individual cells. They are thus connected to a separate input on the checker which can then only show total pack terminal voltage and capacity. BTW: if you can get it passed 'THE Management' store your battery packs in the fridge😲 The 'coolth' slows down the rate of self discharge, which is a function of the battery internal resistance, which reduces slightly with reduced temperature😉 Enough for now, back to stripping my PTB for it's Midlife Refit! Cheers, Doug 😎 PS Martin: Just saw your post about another RX. Why the hell not buy a Spektrum designed Rx guaranteed to work with their TX? Or better still; flog the Spektrum and get a nice simple Turnigy set as above, also recommended by Ron, albeit the 9 ch version. All this frigging about with 'claimed compatible' bits and pieces just wastes money and time, fogs the issue and don't prove nutt'n!
|
|
|
|
|
|
as a rule of thumb charge your battery pack the night before you intend to take your model out to play ( that includes your transmitter). As to binding step 1 with binding plug in power up the receiver look for a rapid flashing light step 2 power up the transmitter with the bind switch held ON. rapid flashing light should change to solid power everything down remove bind plug and keep it safe. Since I have never used the spectrum that's the best I can do. an afterthought you say you have never removed the bind plug are you sure its actually plugged in where it should be not just " parked" for transit?
|
|
|
|
|
|
as to charging and discharging a battery pack. If you leave an NiMH pack untouched for long enough it winds up DEAD, So if your not using a pack for any length of time you should cycle it every couple of months. If your using a pack regularly and just " topping up" the charge again its a good idea to cycle it occasionally to keep the capacity ( I know NiMH are not supposed to have the " memory" problems NiCads had but.......). Yes the charger senses the battery condition and stops when charged. However its good practice to never leave a charger running unattended and to touch the pack often to make sure its not cooking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
ok step 1) plug in your charger step 2 ) keep hitting the STOP button until you can see "Program select NiMH BATT" step 3) press start step 4) a status button until you see "NiMH CYCLE DCHG>CHG 1" connect up your battery pack and press start!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi, Doug: Either of the two file formats you mentioned (.docx or .pdf) is fine, whichever one is easiest for you. Speaking of .pdf files, do you (or anyone else reading this) know of a website where I can download a user manual for the 27mhz or 40mhz versions of Hobby Engine’s tugs? From the details you mentioned in your manual it seems like it has useful information that’s not even mentioned in my 2.4ghz version booklet. My manual doesn’t mention anything about the rear hatch, for example. I don’t know if there’s anything about maintenance in your manual but mine has nothing at all. It seems odd that there’s nothing written at all about prop shaft lubrication or other basic maintenance. My six page booklet tells about installing AA batteries in the transmitter & how to place the 7.2v battery pack in the boat. There’s nothing about how long the 7.2v battery should be charged or how to charge it properly. Very strange.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi folks, I have just received the 5 cell battery pack for my yacht R/C gear, but it come with no words and music, so I don't know if it's charged or not and am worried about using it with RC gear in case being under charged is dangerous to the gear. I also have a brand new, never used imax B6 charger. Never used because I can't make head nor tail of the instructions. Can anyone help me with all this lecktrickery, please? Beyond 4 AAs in a wall wart I am completely green with battery charging. (BTW, why wall WART exactly?) Cheers, Martin
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hmmm, seems whatever I do I need to tie more knots to use either a ring (as per Havelock's video) or a bowsie. The knots are tied in the string on the winch drum and that was a pain to get the tension right, so I'm thinking just a piece of slit tube to get over the string, then crimp up with electrical contact pliers for a good crimp. Still waiting for the battery pack to arrive for the RC and servos. Then I have to bind the Orange Rx. to the Spektrum Tx....ugh! I got a biddliboop from the Tx. when I put the batteries in and turned it on and a light came on in a line of lights. Fancy, this modern stuff, innit? First time the Tx. has ever been right out of the box in about 5 years since I bought it, ostensibly for a model aircraft. But aircraft are too expensive to insure, join clubs, etc., hence my switch to yachts. Just as involving as aircraft (wind strength, direction, sail trim and all that jazz), but more interesting than watching a power boat trolling round endlessly. At least, that's the plan Martin
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi all and thanks to Ron and Doug I have not forgotten about the TGY-i6 set and have looked at the suggestions from Ron. I looked at a lot of stuff it can be a bit of mine field, I have fond this at Cornwall models Servo, Batteries, Charger & 15A ESC This pack provides the radio control unit and all items necessary to complete an RC boat kit. Certain models may need a motor Contents: 2-Channel transmitter Reflex Pro 3.1 2.4GHZ 5-Channel receiver, CS-3 steering servo (3kg/cm force) Transmitter batteries, 7.2v/2100mAh drive battery 15Amp Marine Electronic Speed Controller Plug charger Multi-lingual instructions Part No: CMBRCP15 I think this may be the way for me to go as it seem to have all the things I need to learn about in the one package, I know I may have to up grade some parts but for the first timer I think it would do your opinions would be much appreciated
|
|
|
|
|
|
After a time away due to illness and other family issues, I am back to the build of the NAXOS. By accident, I think that I have obtained a suitable power plant for her - it is the motor out of a cordless drill which I can no longer get a battery pack for. Aparently, it runs on 6V to 60V. Wondering if it will require water coolong or not. If so, how does one arrange a "water scoop" for the cooling tube and where is the discharge sent to? Maybe a port in the transom..... As you can see, it has a pinion gear on the shaft and I don't know if I should leave it on and incorporate a prop speed reduction gear or remove it (with heat) and go "direct drive" coupling to the prop shaft. I have a plan for the ESC with BEC and as I love building electronic devices likely will go with "home brew". I am a boat building novice so constructive input appreciated. Have located a source for wood construction material, so hopefully will have something to show next time.
|
|
|
|
Fleet Admiral! Posted: 9 hours ago
Sub-Lieutenant Posted: 1 day ago
Lieutenant Posted: 28 days ago
