My 1/35th, 66" long Disney Nautilus

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  • SubDude
    Captain
    • Dec 2019
    • 803

    #61
    Pretty frustrated with her right now... one moment she will power up and the next she won't. Thought it might be a lower voltage on the batteries but they are both showing 12.5 volts. Can't find anything out of order with the wiring but it is not trustworthy. Both watertight boxes are dry. Voltage is getting to the ESC and it is putting out the necessary 5V even when it won't come on. Very puzzled...

    Comment

    • SubDude
      Captain
      • Dec 2019
      • 803

      #62
      Originally posted by He Who Shall Not Be Named

      So... you're using the ESC's BEC? If so, that's likely your problem. The idle load of the receiver, servos, and other devices likely exceeds 2A's, swamping the BEC.

      Put a dedicated BEC, rated for at least 5A's, in that beast.

      (yokes are on their way, Steve).

      David
      That may just be the ticket. I did a quick test with an 8A BEC I had and it powered right up. I will install it proper tomorrow. Thank you for reminding me that the ESC's BEC may not be big enough and thank you for the yokes.

      Comment

      • SubDude
        Captain
        • Dec 2019
        • 803

        #63
        Ok, happy to report that with the new 8A BEC she hasn't had one issue. Powers up every time. Thank you David! As a result I was able to work on the static dive trim and it is close. I was also able to paint the base and I added a couple of nifty plaques that Bob printed out for me. They turned out really good. Looks great!

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        • SubDude
          Captain
          • Dec 2019
          • 803

          #64
          This thing keeps giving me fits... It quit working again but even with a Castle Creations 20A BEC it wouldn't power up. The remote on/off is working fine. The only thing I knew to try was to swap the receiver and it worked for a short while. The watertight box seemed to have the tiniest amount of moisture in it but after it was working fine, I put it in the pool and it stopped working again. It is not initializing for some reason. Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this? My only thought is that humidity inside the box may have affected the receiver but it sure doesn't seem like there was enough water in the box to cause such a problem. Very puzzled again.

          Comment

          • SubDude
            Captain
            • Dec 2019
            • 803

            #65
            Originally posted by He Who Shall Not Be Named

            How do you run the receiver antenna, in or out of the watertight space? Remove the receiver case. Is the board wet and/or corroded -- look for white oxides at the chip solder pads of the PCB.

            David
            Master Easter-Egg Hider
            Board is dry. No white oxides. Antenna runs outside the box through a tube the length of the hull. It is routed away from any power leads.

            Comment

            • Subculture
              Admiral
              • Feb 2009
              • 2119

              #66
              There are so many variables with this type of thing it can be very difficult to track down, even with the kit in front of you.

              I once had an intermittent fault where the boat's ballast system would become unresponsive, it turned out to be a bad solder connection for receiver feed to the esc, but it took a lot of digging to find the fault.

              The issues you're experiencing could be down to power supply, wiring connector issues, or faults on receiver or transmitter. Reasonable fault finding skills are useful in this hobby, being able to use a voltmeter and ammeter are useful (I think a watt meter is an essential tool, but many hobbyists operate without one). Beyond that usually it's a case of substitution, for bench testing one could use 2.4ghz or 72mhz TX/RX kit if you're light on 75mhz, also a servo tester is useful to test functions independent of the TX/RX, again another useful device an R/C modeller should own.

              Comment

              • SubDude
                Captain
                • Dec 2019
                • 803

                #67
                Originally posted by Subculture
                There are so many variables with this type of thing it can be very difficult to track down, even with the kit in front of you.

                I once had an intermittent fault where the boat's ballast system would become unresponsive, it turned out to be a bad solder connection for receiver feed to the esc, but it took a lot of digging to find the fault.

                The issues you're experiencing could be down to power supply, wiring connector issues, or faults on receiver or transmitter. Reasonable fault finding skills are useful in this hobby, being able to use a voltmeter and ammeter are useful (I think a watt meter is an essential tool, but many hobbyists operate without one). Beyond that usually it's a case of substitution, for bench testing one could use 2.4ghz or 72mhz TX/RX kit if you're light on 75mhz, also a servo tester is useful to test functions independent of the TX/RX, again another useful device an R/C modeller should own.
                I have all the tools you mention and the skills to troubleshoot most things but RF issues are a different thing. I have become so spoiled with 2.4 GHz and spread spectrum technology that I have forgotten how picky the old FM tech was. I believe much of my problem was being caused by the antenna being too close to the main power cables. I separated them and things improved well enough that I was able to actually get some good pool time in for static dive trimming. It didn't glitch once until the batteries got low enough to start causing some different behavior.

                Comment

                • Subculture
                  Admiral
                  • Feb 2009
                  • 2119

                  #68
                  I always used PCM when I first started in subs. this was frowned upon by the more experienced, but I never got any glitches, as the signal was cleaned up by the microprocessor. Later on PPM receivers with signal conditioning came out (I believe Multiplex were the first to make this commercial) and that was a big help for model submariners and meant you weren't locked into one manufacturer with PCM.

                  433/458mhz open lrs equipment is another option. This offers all of the advantages of 2.4ghz like good interference suppression, frequency hopping, smaller aerials programmable failsafes etc., works with the latest equipment and works underwater. Penetration through water isn't as high as lower frequency, but you can get down a few feet, and for most that's enough. In the US you need a Ham techs license, which is a nuisance, but I understand it's a straightforward paper to pass, and you only have to do it once. Here in the UK, you can run without a license under a certain wattage.
                  Last edited by Subculture; 06-30-2020, 05:59 AM.

                  Comment

                  • SubDude
                    Captain
                    • Dec 2019
                    • 803

                    #69
                    I am running 75 MHz. I tried PCM first on my Redoutable but the AD2 Pitch controller would not work with it so I switched to PPM which is what I now have on both boats. The Redoutable has been flawless from a radio perspective but also has a sub driver which helps keep things separated. I am doing a modular sub system on the Nautilus and as such more opportunity exists for the antenna to be in close proximity to the 12V power cables and I wasn't being careful to keep them apart.

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                    • Subculture
                      Admiral
                      • Feb 2009
                      • 2119

                      #70
                      Curious as what the issue with the leveller was. Has it got a fail safe that clashed? Other than that a PCM PWM output is the same as a PPM PWM output.

                      Comment

                      • SubDude
                        Captain
                        • Dec 2019
                        • 803

                        #71
                        The designer of the AD2 Pitch controller said there was apparently an issue with the firmware. Rather than wait for a fix I tried the PPM Rx and no more problem. I was also using a BLM which was set properly to work with the PCM Rx. I reconfigured it for the PPM Rx and it works fine.

                        Comment

                        • SteveNeill
                          Commander
                          • Apr 2020
                          • 315

                          #72
                          On the latest build of the 1/48 scale 214 with a JR pro I had a lot of glitching on the leveler. I finally disconnected it. Yet on my Type 7 with an AM radio it was clean with no glitches at all. I'm not sure what mod the JR is in. It even came with a 2.4 module. But with the PCM mod it glitches.

                          Comment

                          • Subculture
                            Admiral
                            • Feb 2009
                            • 2119

                            #73
                            Is this a frame rate issue I wonder? By the time the signal is at the servo plug, it shouldn’t be any different from any other receiver, unless the manufacturers are fiddling with the standard 20m/s refresh rate, possibly as a way to get more channels.

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                            • SubDude
                              Captain
                              • Dec 2019
                              • 803

                              #74
                              I finally have some decent video of the Nautilus in the pool. The static trim is looking good and the waterline trim is at about 3/4" below the deck which seems good. It is acting very consistent now. No more radio glitches. I plan to remove just enough lead from the bottom of the hull to make it ever so slightly positively buoyant.



                              The pump pulled a significant vacuum on the watertight boxes so I added a tank to give it more to draw from and it was just the ticket. With the addition of some lead weights it floats better, sinks and rises better and doesn't torque over as much when power is applied. She is just about ready for a lake run. Obviously the ballast tanks did not need to be as big as they are. Part of the learning curve.

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                              Last edited by SubDude; 07-02-2020, 09:52 AM.

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                              • SubDude
                                Captain
                                • Dec 2019
                                • 803

                                #75
                                Thank you Rob. It has been a challenge which at times stretched my patience thin but with every issue I learned. There is a lot more that goes into something like this than I thought and operating it takes more coordination than my current skill set consists of but in time that will change too. I need to build a launch platform for it now and then I can try it at a lake which makes me just a little nervous to be honest.

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