My Neptune's maiden voyage

[Kazzer]

I dropped my new (second hand) Neptune in the pool yesterday, and ran her around for 10 minutes, then did a shallow dive (3') and she wouldn't come up.

When I switched everything back on, the ballast pump was running continually, probably trying to dive. I tried switching on and off several times, but to no avail. Pump is still running.

Any ideas?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Read The Damned Instructions! How bout we start with THAT!

[Rpmtech1]

HA! lol

Servos working?

[Slats]

I dropped my new (second hand) Neptune in the pool yesterday, and ran her around for 10 minutes, then did a shallow dive (3') and she wouldn't come up.

When I switched everything back on, the ballast pump was running continually, probably trying to dive. I tried switching on and off several times, but to no avail. Pump is still running.

Any ideas?

I have come across similar problems on my pump boats, the problem was an overloaded BEC on the ESC.
What setup inside are you running? i.e. what / how many servos? What ESC? Are you using the BEC on the ESC? how is the pump turned on?
J

[Kazzer]

John

I haven't a clue. This is the first time I've had anything to do with this boat. I was hoping I'd drop it in the water and it would do it's stuff. Apparently, Sod's Law is still sat on my shoulders. However, that is a good thing because I am The Dark Side when it comes to this hobby. If it works for me, it will work for everyone. I am the Litmus Test!

Bugger!

[Slats]

Open her up Mike and have a look "under the hood".
Come back to us and let us know what the setup is, else were all guessing and ****ing in the wind

PS . photos would be good too.

[Kazzer]

Read The Damned Instructions! How bout we start with THAT!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7032[/ATTACH]

OK! OK! Already!

I read them (see part 1 and part 2 )

NUTHIN! Not a mention! No troubleshooting - NUTHIN!

Now I suppose I've to to take the damned thing apart?

[Rpmtech1]

Oh dear, Mike taking things apart....

Did you get it working yet!

[Kazzer]

Oh dear, Mike taking things apart....

Did you get it working yet!

Yes! AND---- I didn't have to do a thing other than cuss it! I went back to it the next day and tried it, and its working fine. I think I had a low battery on my TX, and it wasn't sending out the right signal. Its working fine now.

I'm fairly confident it was the threat of the kick around the yard that did it.

[Subculture]

If the TX wasn't transmitting, why didn't the failsafe kick in?

A chap who came along to a couple of the early Dive-ins purchased an early kit version of this boat. I believe you can only purchase them ready to run in the States (is this damning verdict by TT on the average U.S customer I wonder?).

Anyway, he had exactly the same problem as the one you described, boat would work just fine, then the pump would refuse to pump ballast and the boat stayed on the bottom.

We'd hook it up, and everything would be working fine. Checked all the wiring, fuse etc.

In the end he lost patience and sold it for song to a forum member on Mayhem. The new owner stripped the module down and found a dry joint on the pump controller and AFAIK it has been working just dandy ever since.

Now, I believe most of electrical gremlins that plagued this kit when it was first released have been ironed out, but if you get any more problems, it might be worth a gander at that widget and give it the once over with a soldering iron, just in case you're unlucky and got a Friday afternoon boat.

[Kazzer]

Yes! AND---- I didn't have to do a thing other than cuss it! I went back to it the next day and tried it, and its working fine. I think I had a low battery on my TX, and it wasn't sending out the right signal. Its working fine now.

I'm fairly confident it was the threat of the kick around the yard that did it.

Well, that was short lived. It seems that as soon as it comes in contact with water, it plays up. My previous attempt was in the dry. Yesterday afternoon, I tried again put this time in my pool. The boat didn't last a minute, it went straight to the bottom - and stayed there.


I guess I'm going to have to take the damned thing apart after all - like I have nothing else to do! Bugger! Where's my D&E Skipjack?
No! Wait - the missus banned it from the pool because of sharp prop blades and utterances about - "Any cuts in that liner - and they'll be more cuts - on your body!"

"Yes dear!"

[Subculture]

As mentioned before, I would look very closely at the peristaltic pump control board. Perhaps Kevin can give it the once over for you? If not, I'll give it the once over.

I think Thunder Tiger knocked off Norberts control board design, as they look almost identical. It's a microcontroller based board switching a relay h-bridge, and incorporates a few failsafes- loss of signal, low voltage, over pressure (via a pressure switch) and flooding. None of those will work if you have a dodgy joint say for the power line to the microcontroller (which is probable a PIC or Atmel processor).

One thing, when the boat dies, can you still use the throttle and/or rudder and hydrovane servos, or is it completely kaput?

[Slats]

Andy, for all of us who need to improve their soldering techniques can you please give us some pointers, and how do we ID a dry solder joint?

Dave, have you had a shave and cleaned your teeth yet?:biggrin:

[Kazzer]

One thing, when the boat dies, can you still use the throttle and/or rudder and hydrovane servos, or is it completely kaput?

Everything else is OK! The pump is just running all the time.

[Subculture]

It isn't the BEC then. Problem is definitely with the control board. Could be any number of things, but you'll need to get the board out for a test. Could be a problem with the microcontroller, or maybe one of the relays is playing about (I prefer Mosfet H-bridges).

How do you tell a dry joint, hmmm tricky. They tend to look rather dull, and can show signs of fracturing (you may need to use a magnifier) but they can be difficult to spot by eye even for the experienced. A dry joint is caused by either dirt, insufficient heat when soldering or insufficient flux, too much movement before the solder hardens or a combination of all those factors.

Soft soldering is very simple, clean parts plenty of flux, use a good iron with adequate heat. Plenty of tutorials on line, just google 'how to solder'. You can also google images 'dry joint' for lots of pictures of bad joints.