Electronics

[Tony Mattson]

Hi Derek,

It looks like Peter has beaten me to the response on the ActionKit
electronic kits.

In NZ as in Oz we suffer from a dearth of good bits and so I've been
dealing with Craig Talbot at Action Kits (www.actionkit.co.uk) for a
couple of years now - at long distance of course being at the end of
the earth in NZ.

Without plugging his services too much ('cos he's not paying me to!),
I've found Craig to be fantastic to deal with. It seems that nothing
is too much trouble to him when dealing with electronic pygmies such
as myself. His kits are easy to assemble with basic soldering skills
because the instructions are really clear.

I can't comment on the electronic merits of the finished products
relative to other scale marine electronics as my knowledge of
electronics is minimal - I'm a wood butcher by inclination! However
to date the kits I've purchased have been very reliable. I recently
completed a 1:32 scale puffer known locally as the telephone exchange
due to the large number of little black ActionKit boxes it holds - a
steam engine sound simulator, a steam whistle simulator, a
mixer/amplifier, switching modules for sounds and navigation lights,
speed controller & BEC. Despite a wiring loom that looks like it came
from a small car, the fit out works like a dream every time.

Sure, distance can be a tyranny (for time and cost) but when a
project takes 18 months from concept to launch what's ten days?

Cheers for now
Tony
Auckland, NZ where winds are 120km/hr today


ps: better off a Mexican than a Banana Bender! ;-)

[Derek Warner]

on Friday, October 03, 2003 7:20 AM, kiwikhephre [Tony] wrote
snip - Action Kits (www.actionkit.co.uk) for a couple of years now
snip - I recently completed a 1:32 scale puffer known locally as the telephone exchange due to the large number of little black ActionKit boxes it holds - a
steam engine sound simulator, a steam whistle simulator, a mixer/amplifier, switching modules for sounds and navigation lights, speed controller & BEC.
Despite a wiring loom that looks like it came from a small car, the fit out works like a dream every time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tony - I am impressed with the sound effects of the single steam engine on the above site and am about to order the P56 multi engine ++, however question the wattage output at [one Watt] - I would be most interested in what type of amplifer/mixer you use - the website suggests the engine puffer signal is voltage dependent or variable with the voltage supplied to the engines [or do I read too much betewwen the lines] in that there is also shall we say a speed span adjustment? [my electronic knowledge is also limited] - what type of speed controller do you use in the puffer?

I had previously purchased a few JAYCO sound effect kits & whilst the kit contents were totally acceptable the type of sound generated was questionable, but I did also purchase a very small JAYCAR 40 watt RMS [max @ 16 V into 8 ohms] -[I will be using 6V into 4 ohms so will get about 12 W output] bridge power amplifer [about 70 mm x 25 mm x 40 mm] & a 3" 15W RMS plastic coned 82 db/w@1m speaker so hope to be able to use these with the P56

A note for all PD's - thanks David & Eddie - I have added a BookMark in our PD's Links page titled 'Steam Sound Modules & Differential Speed Controllers', plus the website connection address - regards Derek

[Tony Mattson]

Hi Derek, I defaulted to the ActionKits mixer/amp. I did this because I
was combining sounds from two sources into one speaker - steam engine
and steam whistle sound effects were generated by two different modules.
I felt that it required the least brain power for me to get all three
units at the same time from the same supplier. The mixer/amp has inputs
for up to four different sound cards so provides some expandability. For
a larger model I'd add a ship's bell maybe - on a 'grey funnel' model
you could add a sonar ping or the sound of a big gun firing. The output
is on the quiet side at 1 Watt but then our club facilities are a
suitable scale for our boats.

My Puffer runs on 6V and uses a HiTec 610 ESC - good for smaller motors
e.g 385s but has a 10Amp limit which rules it out for bigger loads.

As to voltage dependency, I am definately an electronic pygmy so will
happily defer to the better-informed amongst us. But in the meantime
what the ESC does is to vary the voltage to the motor and because the
steam engine card is wired in parallel with the motor it also gets more
or less power at the same time. As the power drops away the speed of the
steam engine sound slows down, until when the motor stops, the steam
sound changed from a chuff...chuff...chuff sound to a steady
shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sound of escaping steam.

Yes I know it's not the real deal - living steam! That's one of my
retirement projects!

cheers for now
Tony
Auckland, NZ
next home of the Rugby World Cup!