Richardson Tug

[Jon PughParticipant @jonpugh42568]

I have been given a Richardson / Southampton type tug for our club that was reported as not working. After charging the battery that came with it I powered it up with all the lights turned on and ran it up to full speed on its stand. Basically it runs for about 10-15 seconds and then winds right down and all the lights go off. If you wait a second and then repeat the same happens over and over again even after changing the battery. I know the best option is fit proper transmitter, receiver and esc but was interested to know what is happening with it before spending any money.

[Jon PughParticipant @jonpugh42568]

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Check whether the battery is as charged as you think it is first. Note the terminal voltage before plugging in, after plugging in, before and after swiching on and after it has failed. Beware of "smart" chargers – they are great with good batterys but get confused with a dud, reporting it as charged well before this can have happened.

I would expect a fault in a different area (like wiring) to show different symptoms. I have also been bitten by the syndrome of the replacement part having the same problem as the original.

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Jon

When you say that you changed the battery was this the same battery recharged or a totally different battery? To have the same results from two different batteries is either sheer bad luck at having two dud batteries or something more fundamental is happening.

Do you have a multi-meter and if so can you check how many amps are being drawn from the batteries?

You could also try looking for 'semi-connected' connections where the wires might be loose or only partly fixed?

Are you connecting the battery through the speed controller or directly to the battery?

Paul

[CookieParticipant @cookie15923]

You could also try looking for 'semi-connected' connections where the wires might be loose or only partly fixed?

Good shout Paul i had a similar issue years ago and it turned out to be a dodgy Tamiya connector i have avoided them ever since , i only use XT30/90 now.

Dave

[Jon PughParticipant @jonpugh42568]

I have fitted brand new battery this morning fully charged and same problem, held on full power and ran for about 15 seconds and wound down as before. Problem with these boats is they have a printed circuit board in the wheel house that does the job of receiver, ESC etc so unlike more popular models. Thanks for all reply's I will concentrate on all connectors next

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Dave

Bitter experience, mine was a soldered joint on a motor tab that looked ok but only a couple of strands were actually connected and acted like a bimetallic strip i.e. disconnected the power when the wire became warm.

Jon

A couple more thoughts have occurred to me.

Is the battery fully discharged after the test, if not how much charge is left?

Also you don't mention what size of battery you are using and how big the motor is.

Is anything getting hot?…..to drain a battery so fast it to be using the power for something and heat is the obvious candidate.

Paul

Edited By Paul T on 24/11/2018 17:06:14

[Jon PughParticipant @jonpugh42568]

I am using a 800mAh Ni-MH battery and a 2000mAh battery 7.2v and both read around 8v after the test. What I do not understand is after each run up if a wait a couple of seconds and then apply power again the motors run up to full power for a around 10 seconds and then slowly power back down and all the lights go off again. If it could be a loose connection on the motors causing this I will strip the boat down and take a look inside

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Sounds like a thermal cut-out tripping. Worn wiring doesn't usually come back to life unless the wire gets jiggled (tech term) around. Unless there is a great big smoothing capacitor in there that takes, say, about 10 seconds to discharge to a load, but only a few seconds to re-charge through a bad wire.

If a safety device is fitted to prevent running out of water, it doesn't usually allow a few seconds of running.

[Charles OatesParticipant @charlesoates31738]

Sounds like a classic case of a dud drive cell / battery. Try another one to check this, it will only take a couple of minutes.

Chas

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