Two of everything?

[Derek Warner]

Here is another question for Tony [Mattson] in NZ - hi Tony - my two ACTion Kit Condor 10/2 [ESC] controllers turned up in the post today
& look great but when reading the instructions I found the following!!!!!

NOTE : IF THIS UNIT IS USED AS ONE UNIT IN A TWIN OR TRIPPLE INSTALLATION, EACH SPEED CONTROLLER/MOTOR
SHOULD IDEALLY HAVE ITS OWN MOTOR DRIVE BATTERY. USING A COMMON BATTERY CAN SOMETIMES CAUSE POWER
ON RESET PROBLEMS IN MICRO COMPUTER CONTROLLERS

Now I understand that manufacturers usually tell or recommend things we should be aware of, but when it is prefaced with "IDEALY",
one must wonder - were you faced with this quandry? - did you use two batteries?

May not be a big issue, but I planned to use the main 6V [14 amp/hour] battery for both motors, both ESC, the two electronic sound
modules & the mixer, then use the smaller 12 V [3 amp/hour] battery for a smoke generator - Derek

[Tony Mattson]

Hello Derek,

how goes it?

I'm a law-abiding electronic simpleton, so when I read that it was ideal
to install a separate motor drive battery for each drive train, that's
what I did. So now I have two 12V batteries to find space for inside my
Reliant. I defer to Craig Talbot and other more electronically inclined
groupies for a coherent explanation as to what the reset problems might
entail.

If using sound cards then "ideally" each motor has its own steam engine
sound simulator card connected to its own power supply and ESC so that
each sound varies proportionate to each motor. (I haven't tested this
yet but anticipate some interesting harmonics being produced when
turning as the sounds go in and out of phase). I think this would also
point to the need to split the power sources for your two motors.

Might you be able to convert to 2 x 6V 7AHr batteries for your motors
instead? I have a couple of Yuasa's this size and they have a nice slim
profile to help keep weight down low in a model.

You might also be able to do away with the separate 12V battery
completely if you are cunning with your 2 x 6V batteries:
* connect these serially to get a 12V supply
* take centre taps for your independent 6V motor supplies

The draw from the sound simulators and smoke generator wouldn't be much
more than 700mA so shouldn't represent too much of a drain relative to
paddle motors under load.

Although I'm a steam virgin, I'm inclining to think that Stuart has gone
down the simpler route by using a live steam plant and twin engines in
"Old Trafford", compared with us 'electroheads'!

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

On more mundane matters, I've been slaving over sponsons for the past
few days - in between setting up a family trust, caring for my wife who
has a touch of pneumonia at present, tending to my 5 year old son,
running a business, etc. I surely do appreciate the peace and quiet
between 10pm and midnight, just a pity there's not more of it!

I've cracked the paddle box construction after three attempts and am now
starting the sponson deck houses that feature on Reliant. What's not
helping is the fact that the plans I have access to are not well
reproduced from the originals - I think they must be third or fourth
generation reproductions so half of my time is spent correcting
reproduced distortions in the plans where earlier copies had folds or
creases. I've also noticed a few (admittedly minor) inconsistencies in
the plans as well so am spending more time than I should need to on
these elements. A real annoyance.

Once these darned sponsons are satisfactory I'll post a snap or two
(along with that motor mixer setup).

In the meantime I've got a mate working on the paddlewheel rims (similar
to Stuart's ReliantM09 photo) - he's drawn up a CAD plan and is cutting
the rims from 0.7mm brass sheet using a water knife. Next stop - hubs.
At this rate we could have a test voyage (sans superstructure) by the
new year.

Cheers for now
Tony