Roy's StuG III (no. 2020/10)

[yves mouton]

Hello Roy,

Clean and nice setup of the modules.
Best regards Yves

[Roy Beukeveld]

Roy that's the cleanest build I have ever seen!
Regards Phil.

Hi Phil, thank you very much

I see what you mean about the clear floor. I though you might be making it like a glass bottomed boat

Adrian.

Hi Adrian, ah i see... well good we got that "clear" now

Hello Roy,

Clean and nice setup of the modules.
Best regards Yves

Thank you Yves

[michael hilton]

Good morning Roy, excellent build and a very thoughtful layout, I like it ....Mick

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi Guys,

With the components in place there are some switches that need a place too.
I made two casings that can be bolted underneath the small hatches on the engine deck.
They line up with the existing boltholes of the kit, so all that was needed were some new longer bolts

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

NICE!
Awesome, in fact!
You are setting a new standard - can we have a milestone here, please!

[Marco Peter]

Yesssss what Christoffer said!

This must be the cleanest setup of switches I have ever seen.

[yves mouton]

Hello Roy,

This is indeed a very nice and clean set-up.
Best regards Yves

[Vince Cutajar]

Very nice setup Roy.
What is the function of the four toggle switches? One for sure is for the smoker, and I am guessing another one for the voltage display but no idea about the other two.

Vince

p.s. Maybe for the lights?

[Robert E Morey]

Roy,
Really nice electronics set up. I had a question on the charge ports. It looks like there's only 2 ports so do you intend to charge both batteries together? Or is there another set of charge points somewhere else for the other battery? One of the toggle switches could serve as a battery connector /isolator switch I suppose.

Impressive work.
Bob

[Roy Beukeveld]

Thanks for all the really nice comments guys!

Very nice setup Roy.
What is the function of the four toggle switches? One for sure is for the smoker, and I am guessing another one for the voltage display but no idea about the other two.

Vince

p.s. Maybe for the lights?

Hi Vince, four switches, one is for the smoker indeed, the second is for my animated commander, the third, is reserved for the MG34, the fourth is a spare at the moment. If some good idea comes to mind I have a spare switch to wire it in. I have thought about lights, but decided not to go for functional ones. The display shows the combined battery voltage when switching on, and it stays on.

I made the commander between ordering and taking delivery of the kit

[youtube][/youtube]

Roy,
Really nice electronics set up. I had a question on the charge ports. It looks like there's only 2 ports so do you intend to charge both batteries together? Or is there another set of charge points somewhere else for the other battery? One of the toggle switches could serve as a battery connector /isolator switch I suppose.

Impressive work.
Bob

Hi Bob,
Very sharp observation I do intend of charging the batteries in series, so 24V. Thats why there are only two ports.
I could wire the last switch as a battery charging toggle indeed. Would you advise to do so instead of charging in series?

[Michael Röder]

Hello Roy!
Nice commander!
How do you control the character? Which system do you use?
Is the mechanics of the figure self-made?
Regards Michgael

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi Michael,

Thank you!
Yes the mechanics of the character is self made.
The mechanics you see in the movie are self designed and programmed, and were 3D printed.
The four servo's are controlled by a Arduino microcontroller which can be programmed by code you can write your self.

[Robert E Morey]

Hi Roy,
Thanks for the reply on the ports. Not being a battery expert or Electrical Engineer - I cannot definitely say there would be any issue with your charge set up. I like the idea of only two charge ports and no additional switch. So your charger would be 24V correct?

For my scratch builds I usually use 12V motors. I connect my battery system in Parallel to get 12V but double amp hours (more endurance). I have a battery disconnect switch from batteries to ESC electronics, and I also put a switch between the two batteries to isolate them during charging. Doing this method I have 4 charge ports, two for each battery and two switches. This may be totally overkill and unnecessary - but I prefer to charge each battery separately (@12V). I'm not an EE expert - I just noticed the cleaner more elegant difference in your setup.

Perhaps an electronics expert can weigh in - may be good topic for knowledge base? I don't know if it would make any difference in charging strategy depending on battery type? (lead acid, sealed AGM, or newer Lithium Iron Phosphate)

Best regards,
Bob

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi Bob,

I understand your setup, and your philosophy does make perfect sense to me.

From previous projects I have more experience with LiPo batteries than with Lead Acid, so I had some reading up to do.
One of the things I read on a Dutch forum was that two lead acid batteries which are always used in series, and therefor always basically operate as a single battery, can best be charged in such way (My charger can indeed charge at 24V as well).

The advantage that came along with it was indeed only two ports and a simple setup. The battery isolator switch you see on my left panel will interrupt the positive wire from the battery. Switched off is for charging, switched on powers the system up directly (I did not use the supplied relais switch from the kit).

[Robert E Morey]

Thanks Roy
That would be nifty if I could do the same set up for charging a Parallel circuit. Enjoying the Stug build - and learned something along the way!
Best regards, Bob