| From: | "toast" <toast-at-shadowsofchange.com> |
| Subject: | RE: Car Starters [TANKS] |
| Date: | Fri, 3 Mar 2006 10:52:34 -0600 |
| Reply-To: | tanks-at-rctankcombat.com |
|
I’m doubting it will wear them so
quickly once the bearings have been changed. As I stated at the end of my
post, I’m not considering bearings or cooling an issue. I’d
like to hear comments on the electrical practicality of using starters. I
don’t want to user standard EV’s for several reasons.
Some one tried the EV’s first before
anyone was sure they’d work. I’m not saying I’d be the
first to try starters, I’m just saying I’d be the first I know of . From:
tanks-admin-at-rctankcombat.com [mailto:tanks-admin-at-rctankcombat.com] On Behalf Of Jeremy Caylor Well, running started motors continusly will wear them really quick, so
I've heard. Just save yourself the trouble and buy starndard 12-24volt motors,
or just get some EV's. Thats the best thing I could say to you...Then you havnt
got to worry about the battery drain, or any of that matter. I’ve searched the threads,
I’ve read forums and other websites about using car starter motors,
I’ve talked with people in the know about automotive components.
Some of the mysteries at this point will only be solved by testing so I guess
I’ll throw some ideas out and see what you guys think about my proposed
drive train setup. I think I can use the Anvilus RC Mini Relay Controller (http://www.anvilus.com/m_050321_manual.pdf)
which to my understanding is the same as the bigger Anvilus SSR (http://www.anvilus.com/h_040305_image.jpg)
but has no relays. Lets assume that the starter in question is rated at
900 watts. On a 12v system like the car it came out of then then starter
would draw a max of ( 900 watts / 12 volts = ) 75 amps. I would have to
find heavy relays able to handle very high current. I’ve heard/read somewhere that the average automotive
starter requires 30 or 40 amps just to get it moving. If this is true
then I think this makes it unsuitable for rc tank combat applications as the
battery draw before movement would be wasted. If they do require so much
power to get them moving initially then I thought about using some type of
kicker motor. This kicker would be a small, very low speed high torque
(through gearing probably) electric motor that would simply push the starter
around once or twice to get it moving and then disengage. The starters
bendix is a good example of how to make this other motor disengage. Some
custom circuits would need to be in place to cause the kicker to stop running
but I doubt this would be hard either as I do have some electronics skills. At this point I’m wondering if the 900 watt rating
means that even if they work, I’ll be drawing so much power that my
batteries will only last 5 minutes. I seem to remember most of you guys
using 24-26ah batteries and I’m guessing that these allow you to run
about 30 minutes (my target). Let me do some math on that. To get a
24ah battery to last 30 minutes you have a steady amp draw maximum of ( 24a /
0.5h = ) 48 amps. A 24ah battery weighs about 19-20 pounds. If
I’d need 2 of them to have 96 amp maximum current capacity at 12 volts
then I’m talking 40 pounds in batteries. Is this reasonable? Is 40 pounds in batteries
reasonable? Are these calculations reasonable? Should I consider
the the ah rating on these batteries soft(overrated 24ah really means more like
20) or firm, or even underrated? If I get the batteries and the relays
needed for this and find that car starters aren’t a good choice, can I
still use the other parts with other motors proven to be suited for the rc tank
combat environment? Please keep in mind that I understand the issues with
cooling and bearing problems with starters and am not currently considering
them as factors as to whether or not to use an automotive starter.
Cooling and bearings have been thoroughly discussed other places and I’m
trying to look at this from another angle. Kevin “I write long emails” Brings words and photos together (easily) with |
