Panther electronics layout

[Steve Cope]

Hi all

Could anyone that has taken photographs or could take photographs of the setup \ placement of the electronics \ battery ( have you laid the batteries down or upright in the hull, just trying to get an idea of where to put everything, and if extra brackets need to be incorporated?

Many thanks

Steve

[Ray Massa]

Hi all

Could anyone that has taken photographs or could take photographs of the setup \ placement of the electronics \ battery ( have you laid the batteries down or upright in the hull, just trying to get an idea of where to put everything, and if extra brackets need to be incorporated?

Many thanks

Steve

Steve, here is my take on the Panther G that I just completed a couple of weeks ago. I built a platform out of acrylic and aluminum to place a lot of the components on. There are also a couple of custom brackets I made to hold the master power switch, the heater switch and I also have a fan switch, as I added two 24v fans in the back engine bay. There is also a custom bracket holding the two charging ports and a MASTER cut-off switch directly to the battery. I specifically kept stuff away from the read exhaust smoker unit as you tend to get a residue from the smoker. Hope this helps.

[Mark Weiss]

Hi Steve,
Here is my take on the layout, I just recently replaced the AT sound with the Beier and added pneumatic recoil, so I had add a 12v converter and to reroute some connections. A little different from Ray's but that's the great thing about AT builds they are somewhat of a blank canvas especially when it comes to wiring. I placed my charging ports, main switch and smoke switch on a panel below the engine hatch. Next to it is a battery cutoff switch that allows individual charging of the batteries. In front of the cutoff switch is the Beier.

[Ray Massa]

Very nice layout Mark.

I had a couple of issue I had to contend with, which for me disallowed too many options on the layout. First, I think my lead acid batteries are a bit larger, but two other issues were that since I installed two exhaust fans, that kept that part of the rear pretty much useless for anything else to fit. Also, my Panther came with the belt drive motors. They take up about the same space as the geared motors, but for 'safety' reasons, I had to keep as much wiring and components aways from the belts. But I like your layout better.

-Ray

[Steve Cope]

Thank you very much for the photographs and information, I am assuming the lead acid batteries are ok to lay on their sides, or are they better\safer upright?
Also mentioned was a battery cut off, is this necessary?
I assume double side tape was used to secure?

Thank you

Steve

[Adrian Harris]

SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) batteries are fine to be laid on their side.

A battery cut-off switch is not strictly required for the newer Armortek electrics, as it was for the Silver Box modules, as the power relay isolates the batteries anyway, but it's a useful backup in case there is any issue with the relay.

Adrian.

[Steve Cope]

Thank you, having the batteries on the side does give more options

[Mark Weiss]

Steve I used Life batteries because I felt there were too many advantages vs lead and the price had come down considerably. But a cutoff is necessary to properly charge them, as they need to charge individually.

As far as securing, I used some aluminum angle and bolted them to the battery plate with some long bolts and wing nuts. In between the batteries I used rubber grommets to keep them isolated.