Power Issues

[James McCallParticipant @jamesmccall61935]

Hello,

Appealing to more experience members for some pointers. I gained a hand built modelfrom my late father in law in 1998 which has been sitting on top of wardrobe ever since. Have three young grandchildren who I thought might enjoy using it.

Powered by a PS640 6v 4.5A batteryf and four AA for receiver.,

I am unable to get any power to receiver or drive and suspect that the Ps 640 is shot having been lying unused for over 20 years.

The remote control is a Futaba Attck 11 FP2cr with R122JE/S3003.

Also, as the boat is wooden will it have dried up over the years and if so would a soak in the bath tighten it up and make watertight again.

Many thanks

[James McCallParticipant @jamesmccall61935]

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Hi James and welcome to the forum. I think your post probably created more questions than answers but, not to worry, there are plenty of people here to help.

First up the battery will be long gone after that amount of time so you will need a new one of those. Second it is really time to think about whether you want to invest in a new radio or carry on with the old one. Your radio is a very old 27mhz set, which you may find challenging as regards reliability of reception nowadays. I would suggest that you look at a cheap 2.4 ghz set, such as this one:

2.4 g radio

which will give you a far stronger signal and no chance of interference from any other source. It may well be time to consider a new speed controller as I suspect that may be showing its age as well. Ideally a couple of pictures would be very helpful to see what is inside.

As regards wetting the hull, it depends on what the hull is made of, i.e. clinker/carvel/ply, and then covered with so, again, some pictures might be well worth it.

 

 

Edited By Richard Simpson on 13/07/2022 17:15:10

[Dave Cooper 6Participant @davecooper6]

Hello James,

Just to add to Richard's very sound advice, I think that bringing an old model 'back-to-life' can be fun , but, can also be quite expensive….

This is OK if you want to continue with the hobby as what you will acquire along the way can be used on other models as well. An alternative approach may be just to clean this one up, perhaps give it a coat of new paint /varnish and let the children play /learn with it – basic electrical components and circuitry etc. one step on from the battery and lamp thing we all did in school ?

If they take a real interest, then you could perhaps help them build a simple kit or two.

Just a thought,

Dave

[James McCallParticipant @jamesmccall61935]

Hi Richard/Dave,

THank you for your replies. Please accept aploogies for delay in responding. I rodered a new 6v battery and waited for it to arrive to check . I have no movement on rudder or prop shaft at present. All batteries are fully charged and he one fuse I can see seems ok. On the unit sitting the bilges there appears to be a red led which does not light up.Don't want to poke around too much, checked all the connections are tight and Rx?Tx chrystals are where they should be. Nay guidance gratefully received. have uploaded some photos if they help.

Thanks

JIm

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi James,

With a radio old as yours maybe suffering with Black wire Syndrome which is not easily detectable by eye, hence the advice to buy new 2.4 gear, I know it sounds drastic and I do have a Futaba set 40 years that still works Also the BEC speed controller may have also expired if the light doesn't come on.

One way would be to take the radio out and try it with a conventional 4 cell 4.8volt supply to see if it still has any life in it ?? It the transmitter ok ?

Regards Ray

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

James, I would start with the very basics and work up. Firstly I would disconnect everything. Then plug a known fresh battery into the switch cable into the receiver and new fresh batteries into the transmitter. Check the crystals are the same number (and frequency range!) and turn the transmitter on. Turn the receiver on. Plug any known working servo into all the sockets one by one and check that it operates according to the relevant stick on the transmitter.

If that all works then you have proved the radio transmitter and receiver are fine.

Next plug the speed controller into the correct channel socket in the receiver and check that you have motor operation. If not, the speed controller or the motor would be suspect. Put power directly across the motor terminals to check the motor. If it works we are back to the speed controller.

A step by step simple process such as this will enable you to determine what is and isn't working and build things back up one stage at a time. Don't overlook the obvious, as Ray said cables could be corroded and switches might be faulty.

Or go for plan 'B' and buy a new radio set and a speed controller! Make sure the motor works OK first though.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

As Richard says, plus, If there’s no light on the receiver, check that power from the batteries is getting to the two outer pins on the lead, and also try shorting out the switch to prove that it’s not simply the switch that has given up.

Often, simply unplugging and re-plugging the leads a few times can do the trick.

Ashley

[James McCallParticipant @jamesmccall61935]

THanks everyone.

I am using rechargeables which were fully charged at the onset. Checked the batteries for receiver with a multimeter ( not proficient with this bit of kit though!) and got a 5.47 reading, checked the output side of switch and got basically the same reading so presume swirch ok. Receiver does no appear to have a battery.Connected motor to 6V battery and it spun no bother. The boat was sitting in front of me and I was tinkering with remote (no batteries in)when the motor suddenly started spinning did it a couple of times off and on and certainly made me jump , so I am thinking that speed control is capable of doing something. Need to try and test the transmitter next.

 

JIm

Edited By James McCall on 27/07/2022 17:17:30

[James McCallParticipant @jamesmccall61935]

Well, I picked up a second hand RC and rcvr on ebay and the controls are working. Did a float test in grandkids paddling pool and did not look too bad – bit of an issue with the ballast but that will come .

JIm

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

The model does look a bit top heavy plus the high superstructure will catch the wind so you will need to be very careful about stability. It might need to float a bit lower in the water than the indicated waterline but you can check that as you say.

Colin

[James McCallParticipant @jamesmccall61935]

Thanks Colin,

I have been looking at her and thought the same. I plan to check out and adjust the ballast when I get a mo.

Jim

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