IOMICA Forum

Thought I might reply to a few comments I have seen in this thread and elsewhere. First off, my circuits are dipped in circuit board lacquer so it's not as if they are just protected by the enclosure only. As mentioned previously the vast majority of repairs I do are for replacement of external wiri...

Hi all, I'm using LiPo in boat and Tx. Have been doing so since 2004. Currently in my Mad Max I have 2300mAh 125g pack. This lasts more than a days sailing. At the end of a full day this pack is still around 7.5 Volts. This boat started out with 1500 mAh pack and so lead corrector weights were glued...

Hi Alberto, Welcome to the winch game. Best of luck to you. Can I ask a question about the epoxy you are using on your electronics? Is it easy to replace leads? Over 90% of all winches returned to me for repair require replacement of the receiver lead and / or power supply leads. So as long as it is...

Been very busy in my Janitorial duties so have not been surfing the forums for a while. Sorry I didn't answer your question about "roundtoits" Nigel. Brig covered it well. Val, I'm sorry you both had roubles doing setup. I do say in the booklet to read the lot before starting. I do believe the instr...

What is sorely needed on my web site is some videos on winch setup, st drum setup etc etc. Bought a fancy new digital video camera for just that purpose a couple of years ago but do you think I can find a source of "roundtoits" ??? Anyone got some spares cos I am all out? :cry: Speaking of roundtoit...

Fred, My advice on chargers is simple. Only use a charger designed to be used for a particular battery type on that battery type. Unless you really know what you are doing, do not just dial up a voltage and current on a charger or any power supply thinking this will work on a battery unless you real...

It's a fair comment you make Nigel. Others have also had strife. In my observation it is mainly due to incorrect setup but not always. I make no judgement about your experience. The big mistake often made is not leaving some spring travel after tensioning the system. This is especially so with the s...

Hi Fred, I aint no battery expert but know a bit about electrics so I hope I can help. It can get somewhat confusing when looking at servo specs and battery voltages etc. When a servo is specified at 4.8 and 6V this basically refers to 4 cells or 5 cells respectively. Those cells being either NiCd o...

Hi Gilbert, I've been using the Futaba 6EX for a while now. I've also still got a Spektrum DX7. The Spektrum DX6i comes with the two piece Rx (AR6200) and the DX5e has a one piece Rx (AR500). It's a pity it's not the other way around. The 2 piece Rx is a nuisance. If I was going for a Spektrum set I...

Chris, I must admit it is much easier to administer the 1 minute rule than adjudicate 42.1. But it is a sledge hammer to crack a nut approach. We'll continue to write it out in our SI's just to cover our arses in case of a pedant protesting.

Rob

Hi All, Cricky what have I done! Caused a bit of a stir with that little device hey. Not being a builder of boats these days I don't read the class rules much so I must admit I hadn't thought of the legality of the Flash unit for IOM. The idea, like most of my ideas, was nicked from someone else. Cr...

Chris, that scenario is covered by rule 42.1 "....a boat shall compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed." Just as you can't give the boat a shove to give it speed if released during a race (say after bringing it ashore to check trim or remove weed etc) nor...

Hi Gilbert, I don't have a problem with 20.1(a). 20.1(b) says that the hailed boat must respond to the hail immediately. If the hailing boat was to hail then tack at the same instant then that can also be dangerous. In rc that happens regularly now where a skipper hails then just tacks at the same i...

Hi Lester, Here’s a few of my thoughts on the new rules. Dropping 17.2 is a good idea and will mean that when heading down the 1st reach after the top mark towards the gybe mark the clear ahead boat can go below proper coarse to block a clear astern boat from getting an inside overlap before the g...

I've changed the voltage reg with the Dimension Engineering part in my DX6 and it has almost doubled the battery life. I use a 3 cell 1800 mAh LiPo in the DX6. That used to last just over 8 hours. Now it lasts 15 hours!!!! Boy I wish changing the regulator in the winch would give the same result. Bu...

Hi folks, I've just made some mods to the SmartWinch and Spektrum compatibility info on my web site. http://www.rmgsw.com Also just received a DX6 system. Looking forward to giving it a go on the weekend. The tx is based on the JR 6xx series computer radios. Feedback from others who've already used ...

I've done some more fiddling with the range issue. Here's a link to an article on my web site. http://www.rmgsw.com/Misc/Spektrum2.htm Just to answer a couple of points from one of Anders earlier posts. The 5 dBi antenna on top of my Sanwa is not that much of an improvement. I'm puzzled by Ken Binks...

The short answer is just take out the centring spring. You'll need to remove the back of the tx. First remove the rf module, battery and antenna. The tx can then be used with the stick loose but it is nicer if you can put some drag on it to minimize acidental movement of the stick while racing. That...

Anders, To test range, just sail the boat away from you till the winch and rudder goes to fail safe positions. I did a simple test yesterday in the paddock behind the house. The boat showed no fault after I walked 180 m away. I used binoculars to see the boat was still resopnding. Just how much rang...

Hi Lester, The antenna length inside the rx case is only a few mm. I was a bit puzzled about the difference as well but I have to put my hand up here and state that I'm not too clued up on rf. Bottom line is that the boat works well with Spektrum. I've upload a pic to my web site. http://users.bigpo...

I have a Disco with the small pot for the electrics. The rx antenna is cut to the 3.6" length. This allows the antenna to remain entirely inside the pot. On one occasion I had a range problem but that was corrected by rearranging the pot contents to keep the antenna away from the battery and battery...