discussion Successful Day

[Guest]

Had a great day today with the sea trials of my first sub - the Robbe Seawolf. Not only did it dive OK but I actually got it back and brought it home with me..... no leaks either. I'm going to need a lot of practice now to stop 'porpoising' but I suppose that comes with experience. I found the strangest thing was having the right hand stick doing turn and dive so sometimes when I didn't concentrate I turned and dived .. oh well I'll keep trying. Hope the pickies come out OK.

Ian

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[Guest]

Looking great! Nice shot of it underwater. Glad it worked out first time in the drink!

 

[Guest]

Excellent Ian !!!

 

[Guest]

Lovely job Ian. There is a chap at my club who has just completed the same model and he is also thoroughly enjoying sailing his sub. It is an excellent first sub and will teach you an awfull lot about the trials and tribulations of running an RC Sub.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Guest]

Looks Good Ian,

I am sure you will be a dab hand at sailing it soon by the time the decent weather gets with us and all the meets start up again.

Good idea with the Bright red periscope to aid visibility as it is all to easy to lose track of where these things get to underwater and usually not helped with the reflection off the water too.

I am sure you will have a lot of fun with this one.

Regards........Mark.

 

[Guest]

Well done with that!!!

Jason

 

[Guest]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I really enjoyed myself on Sat in spite of the murky water. I'm going to do some tests this weekend to stop the mast tilting back too quick and bringing the sub up too soon. I found the best way to dive was to keep the rear planes level and let some speed drag the boat under - then use the rear planes to try and keep level - I don't want the mast tilting the front planes back - I only need to slow the boat to get it to rise. On one of the other forums I got a great idea from Junglelord in Canada - I don't use the long locking bolt supplied with the kit due to stripping the thread - I have a stronger bolt set into the inner plate then I use a wingnut to tighten it up with - I left the guide tube in the bow for strength and the idea is to put an LED at the front of the sub with the wiring going down the tube to a battery - the LED can be seen when the sub in under water to great effect plus the nose cone can be seen easier. I think that's a great idea I'll have to visit one of our local electric shops and see what kind of LED I'll need to do the job. I suppose I could use a servo to switch it on and off 'cos the servo could be inside the WTC with just the wiring coming through the front cone. Has anyone got any ideas on the LED type etc.?

Now I just need loads and loads of practice in steering under water - after Saturday I was thinking of changing my handle from Periscope to Porpoise but hopefully I'll get better at it eventually.

Cheers all,

Ian

 

[Guest]

any LED will be fine, - make sure it is 'potted' ie encase the terminals of the LED in a watertight material ie resin or epoxy glue or similar.....

I have 20 LEDs on my sub, never had a problem with any of them, the actual light emitting section of the LED is watertight anyway, but by potting the terminals you dont cable corrosion on the terminals and sick wire syndrome !

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that Guy - so do I just ask for a white LED to operate on 6volts or whatever voltage battery I'm going to use?

Ian

 

[Guest]

Hi Ian, Its rare to find a LED than will work off 6v most are much lower and you will need to add the appropriate resistor. Your LED supplier (Maplin is a good source) will have the specs for the LED's they sell.

This site has a online calculator to save you the headache http://metku.net/?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/ledcalc/index_eng . You can get flashing LEDs as well.

 

[Guest]

You could of course fit more than one LED and wire them in series to split the voltage.

On the other hand I have used "Grain of Wheat" bulbs from Hunter systems at:

www.huntersystems.co.uk

Who can supply these bulbs in 6v and 12v types.

 

[Guest]

any LED will be fine, - make sure it is 'potted' ie encase the terminals of the LED in a watertight material ie resin or epoxy glue or similar.....I have 20 LEDs on my sub, never had a problem with any of them, the actual light emitting section of the LED is watertight anyway, but by potting the terminals you dont cable corrosion on the terminals and sick wire syndrome !

i had that problem with 2 radio sets of my dads the batteries had been left in and they had corroded all the wire on the conector lead it is not good to have haha

 

[Guest]

The resin idea is actually a good idea for a lot of LED installations.

I have used car body fibre glass resin from Halfords which I like using because the lighting instalation can be painted with the resin, completely coating all surfaces with a waterproof, hard layer thus completely sealing it all against any corrosion.

It is also very easy to use but remember that any tools will almost certainly be lost unless you are very quick with a very strong solvent to clean things up before it sets.

 

[Guest]

...well it came back last time...

Thanks for your comments guys - some good suggestions there to work upon Tomorrow it's back to Goole for some more dive trials - trouble is most of the club will be watching so I'll have to act like a real expert submariner (some hope) Maybe I'll even get to bring it home again....

Ian

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