Robbe Seawolf V2

Some parts arrived so I have been doing some more pressure testing and it's looking much better.

I replaced the hard rubber gasket with a soft silicone one and gave it a good coating of silicone grease,
added a paper washer and silicone grease to the front threaded rod that holds the sub together
added a little grease to the grease port and sealed it with some tied off tube.


Again I added 3psi and looked for bubbles. The main seal was totally airtight, but there was still large bubbles coming from the front, so I added another 2 greased washers and added 3psi again. This time the front was airtight and the only bubbles I got were some tiny bubbles from where the main shaft penetrates the rear WTC bulkhead and some bubbles out the end of the shaft. I'm going to apply some epoxy around the propshaft to seal it to the WTC and once the shaft seal is fitted it should be totally air tight.

New 7 blade 42mm propeller arrived, it looks much better than the old 3 blade brass prop.

Can I ask where you sourced the new prop, it looks quite nice ! Is it machined one piece or has blades brazed/attached, thx. Khim

Marylandradiosailor wrote:Can I ask where you sourced the new prop, it looks quite nice ! Is it machined one piece or has blades brazed/attached, thx. Khim

I got it here, I think its brazed.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001350036410.html

geofrancis wrote:

Marylandradiosailor wrote:Can I ask where you sourced the new prop, it looks quite nice ! Is it machined one piece or has blades brazed/attached, thx. Khim

I got it here, I think its brazed.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001350036410.html

Great, Thanks. Khim

Oil seal arrived. Hopefully its airtight after this.

Just done another pressure test and this time.....GOOD NEWS! the shaft seal and some glue seal the outer shaft to the WTC worked and this time when I added 3psi there was no bubbles! so i can get to work on the rest of it without worrying about it sinking uncommanded.

next step is to get the bladder and pump working and it should be good for a test somewhere deeper than the bath.

I have order a flip-flop switch module to turn the sub off and on, It takes about 20 screws to put the stub together and its not something I want to do at the side of the pond, I would like to be able to build it at home then switch it on when I get there. by connecting a reed switch to the flip flop module i can turn it off and on with a magnet. I plan to have this driving a 30A automotive relay to switch main power on.



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133454544744



my other option is a wireless relay like this one.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374799713101

I so far have installed about a dozen of those keyfob power switches in several submarines and large warships.  they do use a tiny (20ma or so) amount of draw to keep the tiny receiver running, but for a days outing, there won't be a noticeable drop in battery.   I like them a lot.

tsenecal wrote:I so far have installed about a dozen of those keyfob power switches in several submarines and large warships.  they do use a tiny (20ma or so) amount of draw to keep the tiny receiver running, but for a days outing, there won't be a noticeable drop in battery.   I like them a lot.

do you use the onboard relay to switch the main power or does it switch a larger relay? The battery im using is a custom 21700 li-ion pack with a BMS so it cant destroy the battery if it gets left on.

I use it to switch the main power. I buy two different models. the 6v i buy is 10 amp, the 12v is 20 amp, and the boats and subs i use them on rarely pull more than 3 or 4 amps.

I got one of those little 433 relays I have removed the onboard relay and wired a larger 30a fused relay to the control board. idle consumption I measured at only 6.3ma that would take weeks to run the battery down.

I really like these switches too. I use them just as they arrive without changing the relay - the idle current is less than 10 mA.

I have them in both my Lipo driven, small subs.

It means that you can close everything up on the bench and then just go to the pond and throw them in. (Nearly!)

David

Basically, any work i do for someone else will include one of these things, whether a sub or a surface ship. it is so much easier to have one of these on a warship than trying to hide a toggle switch under some scale object that you still have to find and operate. just hang the keyfob off the handle on the transmitter, and you never have to reach out into the water to find that stupid little switch.

I have used them on a few things. I have used them as kill switches for engines like generators. I also knew i guy that replaced his motorbike ignition with one and hid it under the fuel tank so it couldnt be hotwired.

I have an idea, I was looking into ways of trimming the submarine pitch by possibly putting a small trim tank somewhere in the nose or tail so I can take out slight imbalances if I change some components. then i got thinking, what about using 2 half size bladders and 2 pumps so normally they work together but they can be adjusted individually to keep it level.


so my plan is to try and set it up so it will auto level using a pair of pumps and dual bladders connected to the flight controller. im still trying to work out how im going to program it all to work together.


The latest plan is to use the depth control system on the main bladder but connect the smaller rear bladder to the same servo output as the rear planes to provide pitch trim.

I have ordered some waterproof cables, one 4 pin and one 8 pin, the 4 pin is going to get used for the thrusters and im going to use the 8 pin for the front servos and the camera.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275301352823

I have been working out where to put the camera, I'm probably going to just hide a 1s lip somewhere in the coming tower for now till I sort out the external wiring. The camera has been coated with epoxy so it should be waterproof now.

Fibre optic lens to make the periscope more scope like? Hide the cam in the tower?

cat wrote:Fibre optic lens to make the periscope more scope like? Hide the cam in the tower?

A smaller whip antenna will help, and you could use a separate video transmitter and hide it in the tower to slim it all down a little. This is just the spare camera I had sitting around so it will do for a first test. My plan is to eventually use a separate video transmitter and wire it and the camera into the OSD on the flight controller, so I can get an artificial horizon for murky water. I will probably add a few more cameras as you can get a 3 channel rc camera switcher for around £6, I would probably mount a camera on the top of the rudder and another in the front of the tower. I have some 8 pin waterproof connectors ordered, but I'm saving that for over the winter. the video antenna is the only thing that needs to be above the water for it to work so I might look into some kind of extending antenna setup.

I'm trying to think of a way of hiding a GPS up next to the camera too, I'm thinking of just adding another small mast and 3d printing a round cover for it. It's around 25mm across and is about as small a gps as I could get.

quote lol

This is super cool and I am excited for it.

I was testing a depth control system. It kind of worked but was unstable

I got a new brushed ESC, cheap brushed escs that are not total trash are hard to find, this Hobbywing QuicRun 1060 at £15 is a bargin and is the cheapest brushed ESC that can do more than 30A and has forward and reverse without brake.

I got it off ebay but there are plenty on google.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166090712547

I found a much better relay module. 40A so should take anything i throw at it. }

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155680372982