Workbench Update!

[tbone1004]

Adapter plate to mount a modified motor used in the Cuda to a UV-26. The shaft on the cuda motor had to be extended to fit in the tailcone, but this lets me go to a brushless motor to give more flexible ESC options, and also gives a massive increase in thrust/speed. Motor is mounted in there now, but need to make another adapter plate for the top of the motor to allow 1/4-20 allthread to hold the batteries.

 

[tbone1004]

Alright, somehow a Silent Submersion Viper battery upgrade question came up, so here goes.
I purchased this Viper from Forrest Wilson a few years ago with a known questionable battery but come to find out that two of the cells were completely dead so the charger wouldn't turn on and it was below the cutoff voltage of the motor ESC. A bit frustrating, but after MANY attempts to revive the two cells using single cell smart chargers inside fire proof enclosures, I decided to bite the bullet. I had the guys at Batteryspace design this pack. If I was thinking I would have had them put a 20a fuse inline on the discharge side, and a dedicated charge (-) lead like there is stock. The charge lead really doesn't matter, which is why I overlooked it, but the fuse is nice in case you short it during assembly. If you order one, I would ask for a maxi-fuse holder if they have one. As it stands, I just spliced one in, nbd. Install ring terminals on the end, and it goes right in.
Custom Li-Ion 18650 Battery: 25.45V 31.5Ah (801.6Wh, 50A rate, 7x9, INR18650 MJ1)

This is the battery in the stock holder. It was spec'd to drop right in. Unfortunately/fortunately it is much smaller than the stock pack, so I used sheets of 1/4" adhesive backed neoprene on the back side to wedge it in there. You can use whatever you want, but I had this laying around from another project.

Pardon the state of the workbench, there are several projects going on simultaneously, though all currently related to scooters. This pack was exactly 3lbs lighter than the stock pack, hence the 3lb weight strapped to the side. Note that when strapping the weight in, you want to "clock" it to the 3 o-clock side to help counter rotational torque from the prop when it is spinning.

This is the inside of the battery compartment bulkhead. Note the 3-leads from stock. The white wire will not be used so is removed. Red and Black stay

Topside of the bulkhead. You can see the shared (+) terminal for the discharge and charge leads and the split (-) terminals. You will "blank" the middle stud and share the (-) leads the same as the (+) leads. You could remove the 45a Anderson pigtail and use the single discharge lead with the 75a Anderson plug, but that would be obnoxious on the charger side. I may change the 45a Andersons to XT60's, but that is yet to be decided.

That's all for this. Put it back in the dpv and everything works as expected, so happy days.
I'm still working on the UV26, but there is progress! I have the DeWalt power tool adapters done so there is actually 60v coming out which is great because it means I don't have to worry about them in series. I hit a standstill for the last year on the ESC front. I was too cheap to buy the actual Dive Xtras one and Castle Creations is awful to deal with. The Blacktip has created a unique opportunity since my best friend is a programmer and is helping me adjust the firmware, so I may be running this with the Flexvolts directly on the Blacktip style ESC which is nifty. Will know more about that in a few weeks when work calms down.

 

[tbone1004]

was watching rugby with @jlouder this weekend and was able to get an arts and crafts project done as well. One of my CCR's was demanding a bedroom upgrade. Apparently its Nanuk case was a bit too plain and was causing it to get a headache during travel. Unfortunately the TrekPak dividers are idiotically expensive, so DIY it is.

Bought some corrugated plastic, same stuff Trekpak uses and think lawn signs for reference. Unfortunately my engineer brain latched onto optimizing board usage and I didn't pay attention to having the open part of the corrugations facing up. Thankfully this will never be adjusted so I was able to drill the holes as necessary, but if you do this, please make sure you leave the holes facing "up"... Once the corrugated bits were cut to fit, they got 1/4" adhesive backed neoprene on each side for impact protection and noise dampening. After that some bobby pins to hold together and voi la.
Lots of template adjusting and praise be to cutting desks

Almost everything in there. CCR with a future to be bolted on with a Lola bracket 3l on the spine side, and the top side has the scrubber/head and loop. Top section is the "Dry" section and gives me a space to throw in chargers and whatever other catchall I need.

and the helmet fits!

I am debating on putting a neoprene sheet on the top since everything is wedged in there pretty well, or waiting until Nanuk comes out with a lid organizer for it. I'm probably going to contact them this week and see if that's something in the works as that would be great for all of the small things that have to go with rebreathers. I am really happy with the Nanuk compared to the Pelicans I have used in the past including the booster box. The latches are great, especially since you can get the TSA lockable ones and the cases just feel "sexy". Easily as durable as the Pelicans and the price is a lot easier to swallow.

 

[tbone1004]

working on hacking the Blacktip ESC's. This is the stock Blacktip ESC that is available on Amazon or from Flipsky directly and has had the firmware flashed. Happy days! Soldering on the MT60 connectors for the motors. Note that the sleeves are in fact directional and if you put them on backwards, you have to do rework... Thankfully this only happened once

the smaller ones are the ones used in the Blacktip and are only rated to 13s packs which means you have to run the Flexvolts in their 20v/5s configuration and run a pair of them in series to give the motor 10s, not cool. I want to run this UV26 project on the 60v/15s batteries in parallel so if a single pack kicks it, it's only going to affect range. The bigger ones are a new series from Flipsky that will allow the higher voltage and are beasts. XT90's on the battery side are a bit overkill, but why not. They're smaller and less annoying than the big Anderson connectors that are used traditionally. If this works with the brushed motor, then I'll change out the ESC in my Viper since this one has data logging, is programmable, and easy to replace in the field, etc, but if it works, then there will be a <$100 controller option for the Gavin/Silent Submersion/Tekna/etc. scooters out there which would be epic. They're rated up to 13s batteries and 50a continuous discharge. The motors are only going to pull a max of 700w, so even at 1kw and assuming dead batteries at 20v they'll be right at the 50a continuous rating, so they'll be a massive upgrade.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Am I the only one who checks every day or so to see if Tbone1004 has given us an update on these controllers?

 

[The Chairman]

I'm with you, bro! Alerting @tbone1004

 

[tbone1004]

@JahJahwarrior and @The Chairman I know I know. Compiling firmware isn't the easiest thing in the world. I did validate that the SmartDPV will work with the brushed motors though. Sent the idea to @Jona Silverstein and he sent me a video back of it running a Tekna. It's about $350 which is ~$100 cheaper than the Venom Electronics from Silent Submersion, and you get the ability to change the quantity of the gears, change the speed of the gears, have the ability to downshift, and change the voltage cutoffs to deal with different battery packs, none of which are available on the Venom. You have to send it back to SS to have any of that stuff changed *though no downshifting*, and it's rather annoying. To me, the user interface from Smart DPV was worth the extra money and I did pay for a license from Jona.
I'm still working on compiling the firmware from the Blacktip, but if you're looking for a quick and easy option, I would recommend contacting Jona and talking with him. I don't know when they will have the brushed units officially supported, but he can walk you through the process to change the controller from looking at an encoder for a brushless motor over to a standard DC brushed output.
Also of note, the SmartDPV will work with the Magnus/Minnus units as well.
I'm hoping that they come up with something similar to the Vortex which would be awesome, but I think that's a down the road upgrade.

 

[CavediverSam]

So I am late to the party but what is the difference in the flipsky and smart-DPV esc?
The Flipsky look cheaper cost but can’t find much detail on the smart-DPV

 

[tbone1004]

So I am late to the party but what is the difference in the flipsky and smart-DPV esc?
The Flipsky look cheaper cost but can’t find much detail on the smart-DPV

hardware is identical, the smartdpv is a custom firmware for the flipsky, same with the Blacktip

 

[tbone1004]

thanks to @wasian I am now several thousand dollars less wealthy, but I do own a brand new Masterline!

Drove to WV to pick it up, was just outside of DC and I saw 5 states in 12 hours leaving my cousins in DC and swinging back to G-Vegas.

Somewhat irritatingly this isn't an O2 booster, however the only difference mechanically is the motor which is a fully sealed version.
You can see here that it hasn't even fully ran in yet

The plan for this is to end up in my medium duty ambulance later this year or early next year and similar to my Rix pumps will have a 230v 3-phase motor installed with a 115v VFD. In the interim, this is a dual voltage motor so it was changed over to low voltage so I can use it. I got the motor wiring changed over and will need to buy a plug. Weirdly, they did not install an on/off switch on this thing which is a bit strange. The motor cabinet will get a switch when I rewire the plug later this week. Need to get some Swagelok fittings for the inlet/outlet and we should be good to go until the VFD is installed.

This will be mated with the Sierra booster that I got from @LandonL so I have a high volume main pump and will use the Masterline for smaller cylinders and Oxygen. That does sadly mean that I will be selling my Haskel case once I get the ambulance and can build the pumps into the rig.