Taycol Motors

[Christopher WildParticipant @christopherwild29350]

I am restoring a 30 year old KeilKraft Vosper fire tender. It has a Taycol Meteor  motor. I want to fit R/C with a modern motor control module. I assume these reverse by changing polarity ? The Taycol motor has a manual direction lever which switches direction and reduces speed.Switching polarity does NOT reverse the motor, so I assume the lever affects field windings only. Can anyone tell me how to overcome this problem without changing the vintage motor ?. Chris Wild

[Christopher WildParticipant @christopherwild29350]

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Chris, being a non-electronic person, the simple solution would seem to me to fit a servo and operate the lever “manually” for reverse. Would need three channels then for basic operation…..??  From what I have garnered in the past from the forum, these Taycol motors are very difficult  to suppress, I think some expert electronic advice may be needed here. Ashley

[Christopher WildParticipant @christopherwild29350]

Thanks for that Ashley-much as I would like to keep the Taycol it looks as though I may be better abandoning it and fitting a modern motor. I will hang on a bit before deciding. Chris Wild

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Chris.It all depends what you want to use it for. A modern motor will be hassle free and so much faster and more frugal on the amps for the power delivered if you want to run it regularly but obviously it wont be original. On the other hand You could display the motor next to the boat on its stand to add authenticity?  Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

There was a similar thread in 2007, and the fat controller wrote..

 

quote  ” I am sorry to say that in my experience it is very difficult to connect a
Taycol to any kind of speed controller on account of the way the motor
is electrically wound and that in doing so you run the risk of blowing
the controller and batteries. ” unquote

 

A.N other member also wrote in a similar vein.  Modern it is.  Ashley

[Christopher WildParticipant @christopherwild29350]

O.K thanks to all who gave me the benefit of their experience. I will fit a new motor in the boat and ,as suggested, I will save the Taycol for display. Chris Wild

[HS93Participant @hs9317166]

have a look at    http://modelfireboats.com/rc/setups.php#new   scroll up the top and there are plenty of sugestions of motors props setups for fire boats

 

Peter

[KiwimodellerParticipant @kiwimodeller]

Chris, many will mislead you! I have been involved in several discussions on this and other forums over the years and I can assure you it is perfectly possible to run Taycol motors with modern speed controllers and get them to reverse and to run well forwards. It is not as simple as running a modern motor and the newer motor will probably be faster and draw less current so the battery would last longer but as I say I was given good advice and still have my Sea Queen with Taycol Double Special out to play regularly. If you want to do it I am happy to dig out the copies I kept of earlier postings and tell the story again. Regards, Ian.
p.s. You do not need a third channel or extra servo to reverse the Meteor by switching, you do it electronically with a Bridge Rectifier

[Dr John BoothParticipant @drjohnbooth43899]

Extract from a thread on this site

[60wattParticipant @60watt]

Posted by Christopher Wild on 12/06/2009 09:40:57:
I am restoring a 30 year old KeilKraft Vosper fire tender. It has a Taycol Meteor  motor. I want to fit R/C with a modern motor control module. I assume these reverse by changing polarity ? The Taycol motor has a manual direction lever which switches direction and reduces speed.Switching polarity does NOT reverse the motor, so I assume the lever affects field windings only. Can anyone tell me how to overcome this problem without changing the vintage motor ?. Chris Wild

 

“without changing the vintage motor ?”

 

Use a speed controller intended for a “reversing bucket” jet unit.

 

[Christopher WildParticipant @christopherwild29350]

Again thanks to all who have responded to my request. It seems that interference is as much a problem as the reversing problem, so I am fitting a modern motor to the boat and will keeep the Taycol as a Collectors’ item. Chris Wild

[KiwimodellerParticipant @kiwimodeller]

Chris, it is entirely possible to suppress Taycol motors successfully and I certainly did not have to alter the internal wiring of the motors to get them to reverse. Forward and reverse are both smooth and proportional using an ordinary Electronize controller. The feed to the motor is passed through a bridge rectifier using only three of the four terminals, I would just need to hunt out the old diagrams (which were given to me on the old Model Boats forum) or have a look at the boat to see which terminal connected where. The rectifier is apparently very common, I was given a second hand one by a local TV serviceman and it is still going strong 4 years later. For the suppression of these and any other motors giving problems I suggest you go to the Traders Directory on the home page of the other model boat forum, look down the list for a Canadian company called (from memory) Model Solutions of Canada, go to their website and read or download the article on RFI suppression. It is by far the most comprehensive yet easily understood article on the subject I have ever seen. I use a capacitor and resistor in series across the terminals, the same from each terminal to the motor body, an earth wire from the motor body to the propshaft tube and Ferrite Beads on the leads. Also put the power wires on one side of the boat and the leads from the receiver to the ESC on the other. Once you read the article it is easy to follow and all electric motors should be set up this way. You may well want to fit a modern motor for more speed and a longer running time eventually but why not have the pleasure of seeing the original motor go first? You could even do it the simple way, fit the suppressors and then run the speed controller for forward only. Some of my boats do not have reverse and it is no big deal. Just found the link I was looking for, it is http://www.modelsolutions.ca/  Hope this helps, Cheers, Ian (in New Zealand).

[60wattParticipant @60watt]

This might help.

If somebody mentions the nostalgia factor of Taycol motors then there is a fair chance they own a 60 year old train set……powered by a 60 year old mains electric transformer.

 

 

[KiwimodellerParticipant @kiwimodeller]

The Bridge Rectifier has four terminals. One lead from the speed controller goes direct to the motor common. The other goes to the rectifier. Two leads from the rectifier go to the motor forward and reverse terminals. The manual reverse lever is removed. I remember one of the terminals on the rectifier had a sine wave symbol but if Chris wants to go ahead with it I just need to look up which terminal on the rectifier connects where. Cheers, Ian. (and no, I am not in to train spotting!)

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Dr John Booth on page 1 copied in some posts from another thread which caused the software to throw a hissy fit and alter the page layout!

 

If you want to refer to another thread then the best bet is to copy and paste the URL of that thread into your new post so people can just click on it and see what is meant.

 

Colin

[Dr John BoothParticipant @drjohnbooth43899]

Colin

 

Sorry about inducing the hissy fit I would have dropped you a pm about the error but thought it only affected my p.c. however it is nice to know that I can throw the system into a sulk with just a click of my mouse. 

With this in mind I am now going to log onto the banking system and try my new found powers out on them,……. well I couldn’t do a worse job.

 

John

[Author]

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