Radio control Outboard Full size

[DaveE51]

I wish to adapt a say, 50 Johnson to a radio or electronic remote control.
Use servomotors for shift, throttle, and steer. For use on a large house barge.
Might be worth it cause of distance from helm position to Motor mounting.
Yes, could use $2400 Morse kE quadrant... trying to not to for $s involved... Ideas? DaveE51

 

[Capt'n Chris]

Re: Radio control Outboard Full size

"Radio control Outboard Full size
I wish to adapt a say, 50 Johnson to a radio or electronic remote control.
Use servomotors for shift, throttle, and steer. For use on a large house barge.
Might be worth it cause of distance from helm position to Motor mounting.
Yes, could use $2400 Morse kE quadrant... trying to not to for $s involved... Ideas? "

I'd say that if you lost radio signal to your remote controlled boat, that your liability could be horrendous!

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Radio control Outboard Full size

i can tell you with fair certainty it is going to cost you close to that for a SAFE rc setup. (yes it can be done 100% safe)

you will need some waterproof giant scale servos, two of them. Keep in mind unless you get really creative in your mounting, controlling the setup locally without the remote is no longer an option, the servos do not freewheel.

as far as implementation, you obviously want a 2.4ghz spread spectrum, or at least a PCM system with failsafe. You also want a 100% redundant system, different battery and rx/tx) with just a single channel, master throttle/power cut. Basically a worst case kill button. Losing signal won't be a problem, both the systems will instantly go to their preset 'lost signal' position, which should be no throttle, engine off.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Radio control Outboard Full size

it would be down right silly to do this by radio control

If you are dead set on electronic do it with wired remote..... good luck buying a servo strong enough to reliably steer a 50 hp motor for under $2000 though
a second hand hydraulic helm could be had for very little cash with a little shopping around and you could plumb it with whatever length and material was appropriate for your application.... you could do shift and throttle duties with either long cables or long linkage rods and short cables

matter of fact you could use a short steering cable to a long linkage rod a bell crank and either another cable or another rod
or a twin cable pull pull system..... there are several better cheaper and simpler ways to do it

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Radio control Outboard Full size

I suppose you could use electric linear actuators with potentiometers and some sort of indicators on the helm but again honestly I think you could do it mechanically and/or with hydraulics for less

 

[5150abf]

Re: Radio control Outboard Full size

Is this something you are building new or the current controls are worn out?

Other than "I wonder if I can do this'' I don't see any reason to spend that much money to make it remote when getting it back to stock 100% safe controls would be many time less expensive.

Maybe I don't under stand your problem.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Radio control Outboard Full size

explain your problem in detail. PLEASE.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Radio control Outboard Full size

While elecrtonics are very safe and reliable today, and while some autos have gone to drive by wire accelerators, and while a number of full sized fighter craft are computer guided, In this case, (home built), without the extensive engineering invested in those systems, you are way safer going to a hydraulic system.

The elecronics servo control question is not "Can I do it?" but "Should I do it?" and the answer is NO!