E Bay is a bit of a lottery really. maybe best to purchase from established UK suppliers with decent after sales service. Cheapest isn't always bestest!

Colin

Bly Blitish **LINK** Make sure that the current you wish to switch doesn't exceed the rating of the relay. As regards the U/S ones I'd write it off to experience if I were you.

Dave M

Which are the lights that come on? The grain of wheat bulbs or LEDs on the unit? If the GoW lights come on, in a conventional setup, that indicates that either the relay is wired to switch them off, or they have been wired to bypass the contacts.

If it is the units indicator lights that are lighting, it should be possible to hear the relay click as it operates, but note that a lot of modern PIC driven devices have been designed by people who are only familiar with Futaba, and are unaware that everybody else is out of step regarding control pulse length and forward/reverse sense. Many programmed devices need toe "wake up" getting the right signal to use as a starting point.

Kim
I used to reckon on 65mA for 6v GOW bulbs and 80mA for 12v – both plus or minus 10mA. Standard LEDs are generally reckoned at about 20mA each, so you're running yours at the bottom end of their power consumption/brightness.

PHS
The ACTion P43 Single Relay Switch is similar in operation to Mr RC World's Nano Relay Switch – except that in seven years the only failure I've heard of was someone trying to switch a glowplug through its 1A relay. ACTion units are all guaranteed, made in the UK and you will always receive a response from Component Shop (who make and sell them).

Dave M

Going slightly off topic, you often see models using LEDs for navigation lights and lit up like Christmas trees! In fact, ship navigation lights are in reality quite dim and you need to look hard for them, especially when there is a lot of background lighting clutter (see below). In this respect grain of wheat or grain of rice bulbs do look more realistic on half their rated voltage although they still probably have a higher consumption than LEDs.

Colin

In case you are wondering, the tug moves equally well in both directions and at this point it hadn't shifted to the green starboard light! It was assisting a ferry to move off the dock in high winds at Portsmouth.

Edited By Colin Bishop, Website Editor on 02/12/2014 17:21:08

On my model of Shemarah, which used one of the Action switches I wired all the lights so that they were normally on when the Action switch was unpowered. I also had a single fuse and master switch for the power supply to all 3 lighting circuits. Using that arrangement, when the model was displayed at a show I could have all the lights on or off without the need for any of the radio gear to be powered or a transmitter to operate them. However if I want to demonstrate the lights being operated remotely, I can do that with the transmitter, as long as I can remember how many times and in which direction to move the sticks (and is it the LH stick or the RH one, I can't remember which works the sounds and which works the lights and radar).

Gareth

Sounds like a job for a servo tester. Fairly cheap, and they can save an awful lot of thinking. A silly question, but it is tree light time of year – the lamps are OK?

Your presumption may or may not be founded, but presumption isn't the best way of connecting electronic devices. Does it include a wiring diagram? If not then send it back. No decent unit should leave you to guess (or presume) how to use it.
Turnigy switches generally don't have relays and you may have mistaken Volts for Amps.There is a 30v x 10A switch which appears in many places on the Internet (e.g. here **LINK** ) but I can't find a 30A Turnigy switch listed anywhere.
BEC is covered in my article in the Winter 2013 MB Special and in more detail in a subsequent issue of the magazine. You can also find articles on BEC and relay-based switches on the ACTion website – just click on Diagrams and Articles>Articles for a list. **LINK**
Dave M

It has a semiconductor (a MOSFET) which will allow a high current to pass between two of its connections when a much smaller current is passed through one of them and the third. It will however only switch the negative lead from the battery to the load, whereas a relay switch isn't polarity sensitive. Relays are good for hundreds of thousands of operations if they are treated properly but if you exceed the rated voltage and/or current it will greatly reduce their working lifetime.

DM