Hello readers.
As discussed in the other thread I am going to show you how to do it.
This is not meant to be a totally one step after another article.
Rather, it will be presented as captions to a series of pics and should be easily understood.
If not please let me know and I will add info accordingly.
The installation will be done two ways.
- With an external freight crate mounted on the rear of the chassis.
- Fully enclosed in the cab.
I will be showing the former first.
Method A. The lowest cost way of doing the install is to make the wiring connections with soldered joints. This is my preferred method. You will require a good quality fine tip temperature controlled iron.
Method B. For those who never done any soldering there is any easier way of doing it without soldering but the suitable parts will add a bit to the cost.
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Method B will be separated by rows of asterisks.
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So here goes.
Remove the motor block from the chassis.
This can be tricky as it is held in by a barbed tab that must be levered out of the way. Use a medium sized screwdriver as shown. Twist the screwdriver and lift the motor block clear when the tab is free.
[img]http://www.rcs-rc.com/
Here is the second part of the “How to”.
This concerns the way I installed the batteries and R/C equipment.
The “no solder” Method B is separated by rows of asterisks.
I chose to fabricate a crate and tray with sheet and strip styrene.
Feel free to do it anyway you like as long as the inside dimensions (shown in yellow) will accomodate the components.
I mounted the Hi-Tec Rx and EVO-2 under the top of the crate.
The RX was placed so that the antenna wire would feed through the front of the crate. I left enough room so the battery power in wires and motor out wires could be fed into the EVO-2.
The antenna wire was tacked to the FRONT of the crate with AC cement in a diminishing spiral. It is important you do not cross the antenna wire.
So far the range is good on the bench but this arrangement may change if the range is not good enough.
The tray was also fabricated in sheet and strip styrene.
A ¼" hole was drilled at the front so that it is above the hole in the chassis which permits the motor wires to come up through.
As I want the tray easily removable when I do the in cab installation I drilled holes for some small screws to temporarily hold the tray in place.
Here is the tray drawing and dimensions.
This is how I soldered the battery wires to the switch.
The 1 - 2 amp Polyswitch® is wired in series with the battery leads and is not connected to the switch electrically.
The next pic shows how I glued a 1 amp Polyswitch® fuse to
I have thought about buying a Mack from HLW but the battery was the issue. Plus i don’t think it will pull much for me.
Readers.
As can be seen from my edited posts above I have finished the drawings as promised.
If there are any queries please feel free to comment.
Now for what it costs.
Would you believe a complete battery powered HLW Mack switcher for well under US$$200.
The soldered wiring version is as follows.:
1 x HLW Mack switcher. … US$40. (I got mine from San Val).
1 x Hi-Tec TX/RX combo. … US$40. http://www.towerhobbies.com/listings/cat-cat-j.html
1 x EVO-2 Motor Driver. … US$60. http://www.rcs-rc.com/Actionindex.htm
1 x Smart AA charger. … US$12. http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=189
1 x 24 pack 2300 mah AA cells. … US$30. http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=245&HS=1
1 x DPDT ON-OFF switch. … US$ 3.
1 x 1 - 1.5 amp Polyswitch fuse. … US$ 1.
2 x 4 way AA battery holders. … US$ 2.
2 x 9 volt snap connectors. … US$ 2.
2 x RF chokes. … US$ 2
Scrap styrene to suit crate. … US$ 2.
…______
…US$194
If you want the no solder components you delete the switch, fuse and RF chokes and add the following:
1 x RCS #BIK-U. …US$27.
1 x RCS #RF-CHK. …US$13
3 x twist on wire connector. …US$ 1.
…______
…US$233
The US prices for the odds and ends are based on what I can sell them for here in Australia. They may vary in the USA but al