Smoker Fan Control Units

[Adrian Harris]

I am ordering the parts for the next production run of 25 of these fan speed control units and am ready to take orders. Completed units are expected to be ready within four weeks, parts delivery permitting. The company I work(ed) for has gone into administration, so it looks like I will have plenty of time to build them



The unit plugs into the current Armortek smoke option pack wiring loom, in place of the solid state relay. Please contact me for older wiring installations.

An additional connection links into the Benedini TBS5 sound module. The TBS5 can either be a bare board or as part of the Armortek Amplifier Module, though there is a caveat to using the latter in that it requires the correct connector inside the Amplifier module. Modules with the "wrong" connector will need a wire soldering to the underside of the board to make the connection available. I have done this on a small number of boards for customers and it works perfectly.

The module takes its power from the wiring loom and the left hand LED shows when it is powered up. The right hand LED shows the status of the fan and the brightness is proportional to the speed of the fan.

When the engine start sound is played on the Benedini unit, the fan spins up to full speed for approximately 3 seconds, then drops down to half speed whilst the engine is idling. If the engine rev-up sound is played, the fan spins up to full speed for the duration of the sound.

On moving off, the fan spins up to full speed for approximately 3 seconds, then runs proportionally to the speed of the model.

As the vehicle slows to a stop, the fan spins up to full speed again for approximately 3 seconds, then reverts to half speed whilst the engine is idling.

When the engine stop sound is played, the fan stops running.

The power, fan and sound connections are colour coded to match the Armortek wiring loom colours to simplify installation. The unit is fused and features reverse polarity protection to prevent damage if it should be wired incorrectly.

The standard module is priced at 45ukp + P&P.

Please email me at sales@armortekaddict.co.uk for orders, or if you have any further questions.

Adrian.

[Nick Farrugia]

Hi to all
Anyone thinking of buying one of these and are not sure about it . Dont worry its a great piece of kit , I have installed one in my pz1v and it works perfectly , and does exactly what adrian says it does , it is easy to install and came with easy instructions to follow , it also compliments the armortek electricks , perfectly. So gofor it you want be disappointed
Adrian
I am sorry to here of your job I hope that things get better for you very soon. things are not good anywhere ,the company I work for has been struggling for some time , and things just dont seem to get any easier .
All the very best to you ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.Nick

[Adrian Harris]

Cheers Nick - glad you like it

My company seems to have made some risky acquisitions just at the wrong time and sunk us with bank loans we can't afford to pay. How they can do that at a time with an almost zero base rate is beyond me. Still, the board has gone now so it's time to wait and see what the administrators can do for us.

Adrian.

[Kevin Hunter]

Sorry to hear your job news Adrian. Fingers crossed the administrators can resolve something. Good luck.
Kevin

[Adrian Harris]

Having been made redundant , I've had quite a bit of "free" time in which to make up the next batch of modules

The first four went out the door yesterday but I've also had some requests from people who don't have the standard Armortek modules, either new or old.

I've made up an interface unit which works with the original Armortek black box sound units for the Sherman and the Tiger. This unit attaches between the RC receiver and the sound box and monitors the two track channels and the function channel.

When it detects that the function channel is being changed to invoke the engine start up sound, it sends a signal to my fan control unit to start the fan.

When either of the tracks are moved, forward or backward, the fan speed is increased in line with the amount of stick input.

When the function channel is changed to stop the engine sounds, the unit stops the signal going to the fan control unit and hence the smoker fan is shut down.

I would be interested to know if people would be interested in this as either:

• 1) A separate unit, to be used in conjunction with my standard fan control module. This would mean you could upgrade the sound system to a Benedini based one and reuse the fan control module.
  
  2) A combined unit, so that everything is contained in a single box. This would certainly be compatible with the original Armortek module and may well work with other sound systems which use a similar system of three channels to detect and alter the engine sounds.

Getting this to function with non-Armortek sound systems may require some additional programming by me to get the start/stop function synchronised to the engine sounds, but as long as it is a fairly simple trigger it should be feasible.

Adrian.

[Andrea Daviero]

Hi Adrian, great job!
I have a question, does it can be used for a water smoker?
I suppose yes as it connects only to the fan, but I think that asking is always better.
About your question I think that separate units would give more opportunities to save money/mak upgrades without needing to replace the whole things. However 2 units will require more space.

[Adrian Harris]

Andrea, I am hoping that the second interface unit will be in the form similar to an rc Y lead, in that it will mainly consist of servo style cables, with a small 2cm by 1cm shrinkwrapped pcb sitting in between the inut and output leads.

Adrian.

[Paul Morris]

Hi fellas.

I got one of these from Adrian and as Nick says its a great piece of kit does exactly what he says it does and nice and small size takes up no room, and is a great little addition with well written and photographed instructions.
Well done all round.
Cheers Paul.

[Adrian Harris]

Paul - thanks for the plaudit

Glad you like my little module, and that it got to you in time for the BH weekend.

Adrian.

[Adrian Harris]

I have just:

Thunderbird1.jpg (5.67 KiB) Viewed 5917 times

of these units left from this production run

Adrian.

[Adrian Harris]

A couple of people have already asked me to bring their fan control units to the Open Day, to save on shipping, so I'm happy to bring some extra stock with me in case anyone else would like to see one actually in operation in model before purchasing.

Adrian.

[Adrian Harris]

I have just one unit now available for immediate despatch from this production run.

I have ordered the parts for the next run, which will consist of 25 units, so will have plenty to bring to the Open Day, or to post to you beforehand if you wish.

I would like to thank all those who are now running one or more of the first 45 units currently out in the wild, and hope to see as many as possible running at the Open Day.

Adrian.

[Adrian Harris]

And that's the last one sold and posted

So, it looks like I shall be spending the weekend making up the next batch

Adrian.

[Steen Vøler]

just installed my unit from Adrian last weekend and its very very easy to setup. And the best thing - ITS WORKS LIKE IT SHOULD

I had one of the non-armortek smoke units with a 12v fan, which I replaced with a 24v fan and connected this up according to the instructions from Adrian. My heater element still runs 12v though, but this have no limitations to the functionality. It just works fine

cheers
Steen

[Adrian Harris]

Thanks Steen - I'm glad it's as easy as I hoped

Adrian.