Proboat Blackjack 26" Brushless

[greenman407]

WOW! in a word................FASTER! But..............running without the turn fins WILL result in a spin out and eventually you will DUMP it.
How do I know? (DUH!) So im going to bolt the one on the right side back on and try that.

[greenman407]

Programing complete. We will try it out tomorrow.

[greenman407]

Notice the throttle curve selector. If its set for Logarithm instead of Linear, youll only have 80% power. Also, you can adjust the timing for even more output, not to mention the multiple options concerning Lipos and cutoff and various other sundrys. HAPPY DAY.

[greenman407]

When I purchased the Blackjack 29, it came with a ESC programming module. It was critical to use it to get the most out of the boat. Then I recall that when I purchased the Blackjack 26 that a programming module was available but that had to be purchased seperately. I didnt give it much thought. Then I realized that without that module, the boat would never be all that it could be. Proboat and Horizon Hobbies, their distributor, said that it was no longer available.
Well, I didnt like that ,so I checked on Ebay. At first the auto-search turned up nothing.................then BINGO! I bought a brand new, never used one for $9.00. Just got it today.

[greenman407]

The factory battery holders, have always been in the way. They limit where you can put your batterys. Positioning the batterys are an important tool in trimming your boat. Besides, they hold them up too high in the boat. If you can lower them in the hull, its an advantage in getting the CG down as low as we can. So, using Dremel and multimax I was able to get them out of the hull. Then, taking a sheet of 1" styrofoam, I marked out some blocks and cut them out and siliconed them in to hold the batterys where I sumised that they should go. If I find that an adjustment needs to be made.....no problem.

[greenman407]

Oh..................I forgot. I .......kinda ran into a tree stump. Well ...it just jumped right out there and.......... I was being distracted by a spectators questions and.................. Well a little CA and some kicker, and you wont be able to tell. And the turn fins to be removed. Im sure that it will affect the handling, so we will give you a full report.

[greenman407]

On to the water we went with the Blackjack 26, along with the new 29" Blackjack. I installed a new S.S. propeller, thats supposed to be an upgrade. I dont think so, too big. It slowed it down somewhat. Ill either go back to the stock prop or cut this one down some. The new receiver worked perfectly. Motor temp was also low 120s as were the new 40c batterys. A few mods for the near future will be to modify the battery holders and to remove both turn fins, and watch the results. We are "Firing for Effect".

[greenman407]

I ordered four new LIPO batterys. (2) from Onyx at 35C and (2) from Venom at 40C. Both at 5000 Mah. Also, I got a propeller upgrade. Its a stainless prop of the same diameter as the old one but more pitch. And the new one is SS while the old one is plastic. Plastic flexes under load. So, its going on the water on Friday also. The old Lipos were cheap and 5 years old. They swelled up after the last run. I guess from 5 years of being stored at full charge didnt help at all.

[greenman407]

Took it to the pond today and ran it to check out all the goodies that I installed and the adjustments that I had made. Batterys started to lay down after 6 mins. The Lipo guard did its job. The batterys are old and I didnt treat and charge them properly, so its time to replace them. Im looking for (2) 35c rated batterys 2s 5000+ Mah. The new receiver, 2.4 Ghz worked well. It even remembered my radio, so I didnt have to bind it.

[greenman407]

So far, only one problem with the Spektrum receivers. Each time you go to use it, you have to "Bind" the receiver to the radio. Its supposed to "remember" your radio, but my experience with some of them is that they dont. So your faced with binding everytime you use it. That requires sticking the bind plug into the port and going thru the bind procedure. In a boat, I always put the receiver in a balloon wrapped in foam. So, that means that you got to unwrap it and then bind it and then wrap it back up again.
So, what about taking a receiver on/off switch and shorting out the two output wires and move one of the wires in the input plug. That way ,you leave the switch plugged in at all times into the bind port of the receiver, when you need to bind, you turn the switch on. As soon as the bind is complete, you turn the switch off before proceeding with operations.

[greenman407]

In goes the new marine receiver and Lipo guard. Notice the batterys. They fit perfect laying them right down in the sponson recesses and tuck them under the floatation foam. I also increased the throw on the rudder so it should corner tighter. With the batterys weight slightly forward and low in the hull, it should hang in there for the tight turns. Ill have to ring it out to see what kind of improvement we have. The blue thing is the ESC and the receiver goes right underneath it. Youll notice that the Marine receiver is 2.4 Ghz. It has two antenna leads, one that lays down in the radio box and one a little longer that you stick upwards thru a antenna wire tube.

[greenman407]

First things first. Since I last posted to this thread I have learned that you dont store your Lipos fully charged. Shoot for 3.6 volts per cell for storage.No lower. The Lipo guards that I am familiar with shut you completely down at 3.0 volts per cell. As far as battery placement is concerned, using two, 2 cell Lipos, I put them forward of the battery boxes and tuck them behind the foam where the wires are just long enough to still plug in. Rides great with no blowing over. The old AM radio receiver has got to go. The boat got out of range when it wasnt too far away. Ill switch over to the 2.4 GB radio system that Im already using for my 1/8 scale gas car and my twin nitro outboard. Since I didnt know when to quit running it , because I had know way of knowing what my battery voltages were, I just went by the seat of my pants. Im going to install a Lipo guard next.

[greenman407]

Got her on the water last night only to find that the servo that I found floating around in the bottom of my junk box isnt strong enough to turn it well.Give him a soapbox! Well just for that im going to buy a high torque servo and take care of that.One good thing that came from it was that I flipped the boat. NO, NOT ON PURPOSE! When I recovered it, only a few drops of water had migrated inside the radio box, by no means an easy feat.

[greenman407]

If you install a lipo guard you will want to make sure that you disengage it when you go back to using your NIMHs. Because your Lipo guard will sence that your battery voltage is dropping(thats what NIMHs do) and will shut you down while you still have plenty of juice left. Im going to disengage mine with a little switch in line on the small batt. voltage sence wires. That way I can go back and forth with both batt. types and still have LIPO protection.

[greenman407]

It has been my experience that with NIMH as well as LIPOs that you MUST keep them charged up. Thats why mine went bad. If you put them on the shelf for a while in the depleted condition, they will never be the same, especially with demanding power req. I also believe that they are really pushing the limit on NIMH to compete with LIPOs. I bought a set of 5000 mah a while back from Venom and I didnt see any difference between them and the 4200NIMH that I already had that were two years old. In fact, now that I think about it , they didnt perform as well! Thats why this time I ordered 4000NIMH.