Electronics for a Krick Type VIIB Sub

[ramsessnd]

Hello. I am new to the forum and hope to learn a lot and be able to share what knowledge I have with everyone. I am having a problem that I hope someone can help me with. I am working on a Krick Type VIIB sub. I am at the point of assembling the electronics and am competely baffled by it. I do not know if the parts I have been given are enough, or do I need extras, or have I not even received everything I need. I have included pictures to show what I do have from the kit. For example – I have a 12 volt drive battery. I have a receiver – but no receiver battery. I have a 30 amp drive controller for the motors. Do I need 2? I have a Graupner controller and a Tamiya controller. Which goes where? The Tamiya looks like a piece of junk. Should I have a second Graupner instead? Also – nothing is color coded to say what goes where. Krick left out any information dealing with electronic assembly. All that was offered for assembly of the sub was a schematic with minimal instructions. I have attempted to contact Krick with no success. I have contacted the company where I purchased the kit, and while they are friendly, they offer no support. At this point – everything just seems one huge mess. Can anyone help me so that I can move forward?

[u-33]

Welcome to the forum ramsessnd,

Welcome to the forum ramsessnd, this is the place to get your problem solved.
I'll not even attempt to answer your questions, but I do not doubt that someone will be along to assist you very soon ramsessnd...electronics and me are not good friends. Did you not get a wiring and installation instruction sheet with the kit?

I wish you good luck with your project, the Krick is a good boat once completed, I built one of the original wooden hull versions years ago when they first came out, and very successful it was.

Rich

[ramsessnd]

Rich,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately,

Rich,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, the Krick sub came with hardly any instructions for building, and no instructions for the electronic installation. I have had success with the building of the sub, but I'm at a stopping point because of the electronics. Very frustrating to say the least, but I have hope that someone here can decipher this for me.

Michael

[raalst]

the general structure is as

the general structure is as follows :

the "main" circuit runs from your battery (2 wires, the thick black and red) to your speedcontroller. (I would say use the graupner). from the speedcontroller two wires run to your motor(s) : the thick white and green.
Now the graupner spedcontroller has two flat plugs left that have small wires.
one plug has 2 wires, one black and one red. this plug feeds power from your battery into the receiver. This is called the BEC function of your speedcontroller (BEC = (separate receiver-) battery eliminator circuit) it probably connects to the receiver
receptor called "B". whithout BEC you would have needed a second battery for your
receiver (and attached servo's)

The other plug has three wires, and basically listens to the commands the receiver gives to the speedcontroller.
as far as I know you can put both plugs in your receiver. It is very likely that only the
three-wire plug will be enough, try this out.

google on "graupner" and the order number (2864) then I am sure you find the
user manual of the speedcontroller. same goes for your receiver.

now with one speedcontroller you can connect both motors "in series" i.e. one after the other. so, green goes to motor 1, you solder the other terminal on motor 1 to a terminal of motor 2 and the white cable goes to the left-over terminal on motor 2.
try this before you permanently fix (solder) things because you will want to test
- whether the motors turn at all with the given battery and speedcontroller
- whether the motors turn "right".
I would advise you make the motors turn in differnet directions, instead of both the same way, but I suspect that is it not very critical
in your first boat. when they both turn the same direction you will find it will
turn nicely one way and badly or not alt all the other way.
all you have to do to make a motor to turn the other way is switch the cables on it's
terminals (left to right and right to left). make sure your battery is charged.
you might have to invest in a battery charger, if you fail to find a helpful local
R/C hobbyist.

now, when this works you add 2 servo's, one to drive the rudder and one to
drive the dive planes. these have the same terminals as the speedcontroller.
you stick 'm into the receiver. the servo's get their power from the receiver, together with the commands from the receiver.
their plugs cannot be plugged in the other way round in order to change their
movements !. you might be able to program this into your transmitter if it is a deluxe one.
otherwise, just put them inthe boat the right way...

by sticking your plugs in other receptors on the receiver you will find it (a servo or the speedcontroller) listens to other
functions (stick movements) on your transmitter. find out what you think works
best for you and remember that changing it is as simple as unplugging and selecting another receptor.

build all this outside the boat and try until it works as you want. then document
how the wires are connected and build it into the boat.

apart from that
- become a member of the SC for the sub-specific things
- look for a local hobby club. there might not be a SC subron close,
but a local general boat builders club can help you also very well
with these basics. it is even the same for cars and planes
- try to interview the guys in the local hobby store when you want some double
check

now it is up to you : find help and experiment ! and report back with succes stories
but also when you're stuck.
good luck.

[crazy ivan]

Michael,

That sounds like solid

Michael,

That sounds like solid advice from raalst and should get your general propulsion system working for you. While I don't have any direct experience with the Krick boat, I do notice something else that seems logical to me. It appears that your sub has a pump operated ballast system for diving. That means there has to be a means to control the pump. I'm willing to bet that is what the Tamiya speed controller is for.

Googling on Tamiya 51198 shows this to be a mechanical speed controller with 3 forward speeds and one reverse. This makes sense, as you would likely need to run the pump in one direction to fill the tank (probably at just the fastest speed), then in reverse to empty the tank. Being a mechanical device, you will need a third servo linked to the rotary control switch to operate it. Looking at the picture, the likely connections would be:

plug with red (+) and black (-) wires connects to main battery.
green and yellow wires connect to pump.

Which way the pump runs will depend on how you mechanically have set up the servo linkage. If the control from the transmitter for diving and surfacing seem backwards to you after it is all hooked up, just swap the green and yellow wires.

[raalst]

@crazy Ivan : thanks for

@crazy Ivan : thanks for stepping in. I just know the basics,
not the krick boat.

I for got to mention two important things :

always connect the red wires to the PLUS terminal of the battery and the
black ones to the MINUS terminal of the battery.

I said you can connect the motors in series. an alternative is to cennect them in parallel.
in that case, connect the green wire to BOTH motors and the white one to both the remaining terminals of the motors. again, when a motor turns the wrong way, swap the connections between cable and motor terminals.

use the serial option when it seems the motor runs too fast when connected to the speedcontroller on it's own (without the other motor connected). another clue is when you know the voltage of the motors and it is lower than the voltage rating of the battery.

Use the parallel option when the motors seem too slow/weak when
connected in serial configuration, or when you know for sure the voltage rating of the motors is the same as that of the battery.

[crazy ivan]

You're doing just fine, Ronald.

You're doing just fine, Ronald.

[Larry Kuntz]

One more thing I didn't

One more thing I didn't see anyone mention, a fuse. I always fuse the power from the battery. Choose a larger fuse than the maximum current your motors draw. Example: if your motors draw 10 amps full speed (with props in water) than maybe a 15 amp fuse will do. The batteries we use can put out many amps and quickly melt wires and start fires when shorted.