bcochran

On 1/28/2023 at 5:30 AM, schooner said:

Bob, 

 

I just found your log. I too am a total RC newbie.

 

A couple of thoughts:

1) I have the same batteries and charger you do. Trying to understand the charger instructions drove me nuts - about 90% of them are devoted to keeping lithium batteries from exploding (which is irrelevant to the NiMh batteries we have).  After multiple rereads of the charger instructions, multiple attempts to charge and a lot of bad language I finally got them to charge, although I never got the charging progress readout on the charger screen. I found that an early attempt to charge was defeated by a loose wire in one of the plastic connectors - your multimeter should help you with that if you have the same problem.

2) Figuring out that little receiver was another PITA (my receiver is different, it has 5 slots and my remote control box is way different). As Ian has told you, the brown or black wires go away from the printed area on the receiver. Another thing to think about when you get it working is do you want the rudder servo to return to the amidships (neutral) position when you release the remote control toggle? That is the logical way to have it but you may have to switch the servo lead on the receiver to the other empty slot to get that effect.

3) I can't help with binding issue - I got both the control box and receiver from M.A.C.K. (where your motors are from), the instructions said there as no need to pair (bind) them and they were right. If you got your receiver from MACK you might want to e-mail them - they have been pretty responsive for me. 

4) There are a lot of RC online groups, some of them seem pretty responsive when people ask for help. I'd try to find one that allows you to post photos - that can save a lot of frustrating back and forth as they try to figure out what the issue is. Some sites that might be helpful:

- modelerscentral.com  - has a list of California RC boat clubs, one might be near you along with someone who could fix your problem in about 30 seconds (always good for your ego and self-image)

- rcgroups.com  - has lots of chat rooms and resources

- shipmodelers.com  - go to the tab for "model boat electronics",  at the bottom of that doc there is a good diagram about how laying out your wiring can prevent interference problems (keeping the receiver away from the motors is just a start)

 

Good luck, you've got a very nice looking build going there

Hi schooner,

Sorry for the long time between your post and my reply.

Thanks for all the advice.  I just now reopened this build log.  It has taken me over 1/2 year to get back to wanting to attempt it again.

On 8/17/2023 at 7:19 PM, medic12 said:

Hi Bob,

I just acquired the same model still complete in the box...except for instructions. Would you be able to scan your instruction sheets and email them to me as a PDF file? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks!

Mark

combatmedic2012@gmail.com

Hi Mark,

I just stumbled on to your post. I will send the instructions if you still want them.

Hello folks,

I am thinking of reopening this build log.

I still do not have the electronics working.  I figured I would work on the superstructure of the boat while I try and figure out how to make the electronics work.  I also play with G scale trains, and I have done over 20 battery R/C installs in Garden railroad engines.  I even teach other members in our garden railroad club how it is done.

When I left off here I had the hull painted, the decks painted, except for the edges, and all the electronics and controls installed. 

So here goes on another adventure.

Hello,

I didn't die.  I have been working on other projects. I've found that when working on long term projects I often run into problems that I don't have a solution for.  The R/C equipment on this boat is one of those problems. Until I can come up with a solution I stop working on them. I can't get the electrical part of this thing to work.  I think it is because of my lack of experience with this kind of R/C project and the equipment I am using.

So I lost interest in this boat just before Christmas and began getting some garden railroad equipment ready for a demonstration Christmas display my club was putting on at a children's zoo.

I think that soon I will be back on this project and complete the kit before I get the r/c components working.

Sorry to have been gone for so long.

Good morning.

I am trying to charge my batteries again.   Also getting ready to paint the edges of the decks.

I am still here. I have a holiday garden railway display at a zoo this Saturday and I have been getting ready for that.

i am debating wether to build the rest of the boat and deal with the electronics later. 

22 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Bob, yes your Transmitter is the TTX300 but what is your Receiver? Are you certain that the Transmitter has power?

 

Do you have a volt meter? It would be worth checking the output of the ESC's BEC (battery eliminator circuit) to verify that the Rcvr is actually being powered. By the way, which ESC were you sent......7320....7325?

 

Also, are you certain you are connecting the 7.2V batteries in series, not just y-harnessing in parallel, for your 12V motors? Again a voltmeter would be useful.

 

You can buy a multimeter for as little as $17USD at your Home Depot.

 

Lastly, I'd call Big Rich and have a helpful chat.

I have a volt meter.   I’ll do those things.

Maybe tomorrow

21 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Bob,  I looked at a video about binding your Tactic Transmitter to the Receiver.

 

Is your Receiver a TR325?

 

At any rate all he did was turn both on; should see a red LED on the Tx but nothing on the Rx. Then use a small screwdriver, for example, to press down on the recessed binding button within the Receiver and hold it down for about a full second until it beeps and a solid red LED comes on. Pretty simple; used to be you had to use a "binding plug" which temporarily plugged in to the Rx to indicate to it that you wanted it to attempt to bind.

 

If no joy, check polarity of your three-pin ESC connection to the Rx: black or brown to the outside of the Rx. It's the ESC which supplies power to the Rx via this connection, and in return the Rx sends the speed control signal back through the signal wire.

 

Looking forward to seeing your electrics run!

It is a TTX300.  I have done the linking procedure with no success.  When I first put power to the receiver, the LED was lit.  I thought it was linked.  I pulled the trigger on the transmitter and the receiver LED went out. Now if I hold down the link button the LED lights, but stays lit as long as I hold down the button. When I no longer hold it down, the LED goes out. No linkage happens.

I haven't been able to charge up the batteries either.

Well, I had the batteries plugged in to the charger several times, but I can only get e few minutes operation out of them.

I followed the instructions for linking the receiver to the transmitter without success.

I can continue the build without operating the boat and try to figure out what I am doing wrong later.

A test float in my jacuzzi shows she sits in the water at the right level.  Of course there will be more weight added when she is finished.

I was able to put a charge on the batteries but I am not able to get the receiver and transmitter to hook up.

Per Ian's suggestion, I epoxied the stuffing boxes (tubes) to the hull.

I also completed the rudder linkage.

I am struggling to learn to use my battery charger.  The batteries have no charge on them so I can't test anything yet.

1 hour ago, Ian_Grant said:

Bruce, the brown servo wire is the GND and goes nearest the outside edge of the Rcvr.

The ESC should have either a black wire or a brown wire too; in either case this is the GND and again goes to the outside.

 

Check these connections before trying again to bind.

I don't know anything about Tactic components so can't help you there.

 

By the way, the prop tubes should be solidly epoxied in. There should be no need for caulk, just grease in the stuffing boxes.

There is space between the stuffing boxes (tubes) and the hull for water to get into the hull.  I was going to caulk that space. 

3 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

You are ready for the first tests on the water.....

 

Yves

Well I have to get the stuff working right yet and I don't know how to do it all yet.

I tried to operate the system, but with no luck.  I am supposed to bind the receiver to the transmitter but I can't get that to work.

I am assuming I plug the servo into channel 1 on the receiver.  The servo wires are yellow, orange and brown.  I don't know if it matters how you plug these into the receiver. The instructions say to plug ECS to channel 2 of the receiver.

The power to the receiver comes from the ECS because when I turn on the ECS I can push the link button on the receiver in and the LED lights up.

You are supposed to bind the receiver to the transmitter.  At first, the LED of the receiver was on.  I had the servo plugged into the receiver channel 1.  I pulled the trigger on the transmitter and the receiver LED when off.  Now, to bind the transmitter to the receiver, I am supposed to hold the receiver link button down until the LED goes off, but it never goes off.

I never expect things to work on the first try.  It would be a total shock if things worked as the instructions say they should. The problem is how to fix it.

The batteries have their own platforms and the batteries are held in place by Velcro.  There is one pack in the bow and one in the stern for balance.

Everything (props, motors, servo & linkage, electronic speed control, receiver and batteries) is installed in its place except the rudder linkage, which is coming tomorrow.   I need to connect the servo and ESC to the receiver and try it out. I also need to caulk around the stuffing tubes to make the hull water tight.   I am not sure what I am doing, so I hope it doesn't explode or something.

I made a shelf to mount the rudder servo.   The receiver has its own platform and is held on with velcro.

14 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Normally props would turn opposite to each other. It's up to you to order a left hand and a right hand prop. Since a single ESC will be driving both motors, just swap the wires to one of them to get it to turn the opposite way. Modern ESC's switch their MOSFET transistors on and off at a rate somewhere in the kHz's. Sometimes in the audible range. I'd have thought a modern 2.4G Rcvr would be pretty immune, unlike the FM Rcvrs of my teenage RC years, but it is still a good idea to keep them separate. You should add small ceramic capacitors at the motor terminals to suppress the switching noise.

 

I have not yet used modern batteries such as NiMH or LiPo; not sure can you just parallel your two to get more amp-hours? Or do you mean they are in series to give you 12V for the motors?

The batteries have a Y harness that plugs into the speed control. The batteries are two 7.2 volt batteries, so total going to the ESC is 14.4 vols I presume.

The kit supplies the left and right hand props. My R/C conversion instructions say to use those.

This is my proposed setup of the R/C components, receiver, servo, batteries, motors and ESC.    I think this will work.

I have a couple of questions for those in the know.   Do the motors turn in opposite directions?  The Lindbergh plans show the props spinning in opposite directions, so the props must have a left one and a right one.

I read that the receiver should be as far away from the ESC as possible, correct?

It looks like I have to build a support for the servo.

I think I am going to put the battery packs one forward and one aft to distribute the weight.  I just need to get to the leads to recharge them, and they are attached to a Y connector so there is only one lead to get to I think.

10 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Yes, most servo connectors aren't keyed. If I'm not mistaken only Futaba connectors use keys.  You can see the key slots on your Rcvr unit.

 

All servo connectors plug into the Rcvr with the black GND wire toward the outside of the Rcvr.

 

One needs to do a float test when all equipment is in. The boat is unlikely to float at waterline, or sit with a level pitch (bow to stern).

Additional ballast will probably be needed, and is distributed give the proper pitch and depth.

 

Your hull looks nice to me.  For future info, I've read that brake fluid strips paint from plastic.

Thanks for the input, Ian,

I've found the best thing to strip paint is Super Clean.   You need to soak the part in a container of the Super Clean.  My Hull is too big to do that.

I was lucky to get the hull to look right. 

This is my radio control system.  The little rectangular thing is the receiver.  It plugs into the electronic speed control (ESC).

It looks like you could screw up and plug the ESC connection to the receiver backwards. I have much to learn.

The little on-off switch turns on the ESC fan.

1 hour ago, James G said:

Your build is coming along great! My first was a Dumas 1940 Chris Craft Barrel Back that I started a couple of years ago that I’m wrapping up for my granddaughter Adeline. Last step, finally installing the electronics. Enjoying watching your progress!

 

I like your boat.  You look like an orderly person with your tools all in place.

Did you make the stand it is on?  I have seen ones like it online.  Where did you get the lettering?>

I need to do some research on R/C boats.  I know nothing yet.  I looked online and so far I didn't find much.   Mostly what I saw was speed boats and a recommendation that beginners buy an already built boat to learn on.  Well, I blew past that recommendation.

So, the motors, electronic speed control and the batteries are installed and hooked up.

I don't know a darn thing about what I am doing.  I just followed the instructions.

I need to put in the servo and rudders.  I took Ian's advice and supported the rudder tubes.

I still need to get some Velcro to attach the batteries.  At this point, all the weight of the components are aft of the center.  I am not sure if you need to even the load or not, or how it affects the way the boat sits in the water. 

Another thought that came to me is that the rear deck lifts off, and the front deck does not.  So you could not get at any components you would put under the front deck.