Where to wire in 5 amp fuse to avoid burning the board?

[Marc780]

As a newb I've been reading what others have done so I noticed there is much talk about fans for cooling and also, wiring in a fuse holder or perhaps even a circuit breaker to protect the circuit boards. After fryinge a tk01 board after an hours use I'm all ears on the matter...
My questions are where is the fuse holder wired in? is 5 amps what you'd want? What about a resettable breaker?
Equally as important are your own setups, pictures would be welcome if not to much trouble, and experiences, perhaps someone has the perfect setup out there? Buying HL Circuit boards needless to say is no fun and gets old mighty fast.

[ALPHA]

Hello Marc... never had the need to do it...but if you want to it would go on the positive lead from the on / off switch to the board...there is also something called a Mosphet circuit for lipos... but those are more of a hindrance than benefit

ALPHA

[Tankbear]

Hi Marc

Where abouts are you based?

If near manchester why not come to our club meet this Sunday and we be able to sort you.

Ian.

[Marc780]

Thanks for the kind offer Ian but I'm in California.

[ALPHA]

Hey Mark...breakers are no good they take too long to blow... your board would be fried before it went off...thing is that is overkill... a 5 amp or micro ,5 amp the type they use in electrical meters would be my choice if I did set one up..but it really depends on your battery... the output... lower mah ..higher amp fuse ...if you went 5000 mah lipo... 5 might blow fast..but it will keep everything safe...mosphets are good if you run a 100 dollar or more board... but a heng long? it isn't worth it...as a mosphet will cost about 35 to 70 dollars... and they burn... the only way to fix that is to replace it... reason why it isn't really worth the trouble..as a heng long board runs about 20 dollars or less

ALPHA

[cupoftea]

Hi Marc

There are a couple of model tank clubs in California. If they are within reasonable distance it might well be worth while going along to a meeting. Being in the UK I have no details of them but Google can help yo out with their locations etc.

[Marc780]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I was half suspecting a breaker might be too slow to blow on low amp dc power, seems a bit too complicated for a model tank anyway. I do sus spect though a 5 amp automotive fuse wired in line might save a lot of trouble...yes the boards are cheap but shipping not so much sometimes, but here in the US everything related to r/c tanks must come from overseas! I get the feeling the hobby is not nearly as popular in the states as it is on the continent, down under and UK...NO ONE stocks parts here most of the time i make what i can from Ace Hardware parts and the like. Even the clerks in the hobby stores have no knowkedge at all about R/c tanks and could not care less about them-if you're not about cars or helicopters they don't want to know your name. Waiting for over a week now just to get a replacement rx01. Until I can do the rx18 upgrade...whats more i have a new Tiger 1 on the way now too, which I had to practically use jedi mind tricks on my wife to get ("YOU GOT ANOTHER TANK???") But for the price ($50'SHIPPED!) I just couldn't turn it down-so that'll complicate things-I'd like to have the KT running before I start on the tiger when it arrives-i plan to Zimmerit this one-yet there's so now to do on the KT...Lines of communication getting longer and harder to maintain ACE Du LIEBER...I have at least two weeks before the new tank comes, may just throw in the replacement rx01 board when I get it just si the KT functions again and worry about the electronics upgrade later (or just upgrade the tiger 1 instead).

[freddytoo]

I found a simple solution to the fuse problem. Get a common 5 amp. fuse for a modern car from Autozone or wherever, the kind with the 2 prongs(flat prongs) and crimp 2 female connectors in line on the hot wire, between the switch and the board. Then just connect the 2 connectors to the fuse. (I get the insulated, small connectors) I wish I had a picture, but once you start it will make sense. The first one I did I got the fuse holder and wired that in, but then saw in a tank forum about just plugging directly on to the fuse itself. A package of 5 of the fuses was around $3.00 or $4.00 dollars.

[d170sam]

Put the fuse as close to battery as you can, after the connector, don't wire it after the on/off switch