Agent36

Hi, I have some here brand new, never used if u still looking.

Just seen this, sounds like your magnets in the pigeon magnet motor are cracked if the batteries are ok. When they crack the motor will draw higher currents.

See AA Decoys, Andy's Brother in Law sells the full spectrum of timers etc on their stands at game shows. If you cant get to one then ring him on the number on their website. Their random timer gives a true random flap, not a fixed on off.

I think thats where Paul Hart (Thepigeonshooter) got his made, Some one told me it had faults on it. If you get stuff made like that in china they will jump on the "band wagon" and under cut everyone.

I agree, if you were going to use lipos on your magnet you would need a low voltage cut out circuit to avoid over discharge, which kills this type of battery.

If you have over discharged the lithium battery you wont be able to recharge it in its current state, as the lipo charger relies on a voltage level from the battery to initiate the charge. This is a safety thing (google lipo fires). I assume it came with its own charger, this type of battery is used in the RC world due to its light weight and high capcity. I fly RC helicopters and shoot..

Open a magtame speed controller, then a cheap one. The inside will be the same, a 555 timer and a high power fet......You will pay the extra money for a fancy case. Its not the unit that fails, most of the time it is the abuse from the user.

I use this analogy at work for the airframe engineers, it might help here. The voltage (V) is the pressure in the tank, the more voltage the faster it will run, these motors are designed to run between 6 - 18 volts. The amp hours (amph) is the size of the tank. If you have a flapper running at 200mA from a 12V 7AmpH battery it will last for 35 hours. 7 A / 200mA per hour = 35. A 12v 1.5 AmpH will last 7.30 hours. I hope this helps!!

I would measure the current of the flapper under load (with a pigeon on it), then add 25% of that value, this allows for start up and other factors. (under load gives 250mA, 25% = 62.5mA Total is 312.5mA) . If you do stall the motor unprotected it will cause damage, a common place is the brushes on the motor burning out. Hope this helps!!

Hi Spicer, You made your wobble base yet? I made one a few years ago for my promatic superhawk. Will try and get some pics of it in the next few days. I used a wiper motor for the drive, does the job very well. Nick

Hi All, Goto www.farnell.co.uk, this is the part no 1596628 ... I get alot of electronic components from them. I just logged into my account and ordered ten of these and it was £1.80 including postage. You will need to setup an account which is very simple. Hope this helps......Regards Nick

Are you looking for the type of motors used in the aluminium ultra lightweight magnets? If so have a look at mfa/como drills they do a whole range plantary geared motors, i'm sure they will have one suitable. regards Agent36

Hi, You have a PM. regards Agent36

I had the same sort of problem a few weeks ago! I was going to put a post on it but forgot. I set up under a tree one sunday morning, just got into the hide, when the farmer rings to tell me he has spoken two some rspb types who were watching me from the road. They told him there were two hobbie Hawks nesting in the tree I was under. He told me i'd have to move, no problem I said. Next thing he rings back to tell me the rspb types had phoned the police and that they were going to talk to me. I had all the docs in my pocket so it was not a problem. The two armed police who attended were fine with the situation, they checked my licence and shotgun and even checked the landy for other guns!! This did not bother me as I carry my licence all the time, what did annoy me and the farmer, was the fact that the rspb had been watching these two birds nesting in that field for three years and not told any one!!! The rspb said it was an offence to disturb these nesting birds and that i'd committed that offence!! How you supposed to aviod these birds if they dont tell the land owner? I dont think the police were happy with them, when they left me they went to talk to the rspb guys about it. The police were from the cambridgeshire force and were very helpful in this situation. I think the main point from me is to always carry your licence, I know a few people who dont. But from this I think they will now, and I hope other people reading this will think about including it in their kitbag. Glad it worked out for you Kenny!!! regards Agent36

If you want to control the speed of you magnet you WILL need a pulse width modulation speed controller!!! Those of you that try dash board dimmer etc are going to find out the hard way. They may work for days..weeks...months..until they fail. This because you are using a large variable resistor. It works by dropping some of the battery voltage across it, therefore reducing the voltage dropped across the motor. This gives three problems, 1st the heat generated in the dash board dimmer is far greater than that generated in the car, as the heat increases so does the resistance, this also weakens the wire in the resistor, so over time it will fail (burn out). 2nd as you are dropping voltage before it get to the motor, the motor will not be able to produce the required torque when needed. i.e with no wind the motor will turn fine, when the wind gusts the motor will start to stall/go slow. 3rd as you have added more resistance across the battery, you will now drain it faster. Pulse width modulation allows the motor to see the full volage, if you want your motor to run at half speed then the pwm is 50% on and %50 off for a set time, if you want the motor to run at 3/4 speed the pwm is on for 75% and off for 25% of the time. This ratio happens many times a second, so the motor winding will see this ratio as an averge i.e 6v half speed and 8v 3/4 speed. This method allows the torque to be maintaned at various speed setting regardless of the conditions acting on it(within reason). As most PWM circuits (speed controllers) use a kind of transistor called a mosfet to switch the power to the motor they are either on or off, when they are on they have a very very low on resistance, when they are off they have a very very high resistance i.e open circuit. Giving very good motor control. All speed controllers sold on any site or shop use this method, they only differ in price and how they look on the outside. Any other claim made is to get you to buy it. I hope this helps some people with their choice of controller. Sorry for the long winded discription!!!