Gun Dog Forum

Dogtra launcher from GDS $74.99


Battery, charger and remote control form Amazon $33.00

Misc electrical parts from previous projects $0.00

Do you mind sharing your parts list and a basic outline of how it goes together? I'm in great need of a launcher but short on cash and this looks like a great solution.

Wow,very nice,professional looking job.Please fill us in on the details.I would love to light up my Amazon account to build one like that.

You're cooking with peanut oil.

Ok Gents here goes....
First, here are the parts that I ordered from Amazon;
The battery pack is a 9,6 volt 2200mah rc battery. I ordered one with the charger and one separate;
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BA ... UTF8&psc=1
Next up is the remote unit. It is a 12 volt system but is more than capable of operating on the 9,6 battery. It has an advertised range of 90 meters (98.4251 yards) which I felt would be sufficient for my needs.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZR ... UTF8&psc=1
I had a project box left over from another project and with a little modification I was able to use it. I intend on hitting Radio Shack today to see if there is a box better suited to my needs. I'll let you all know.
Other than that I used a small switch, the power plug and receptacle and a mono 1/8" phone jack, all parts I have in inventory.
Assembly and wiring is really straight forward and anyone with simple soldering skills should be able to do it. One thing that I had at one time but no longer is the plastic tube that can be used on RC Boats and cars for the antenna wire. I need to find a hobby shop in the are to get some.
I opted to mount the box and battery to the launcher with heavy hook and loop for ease of service and setup during development.
On the next box I need to decide whether to mount the battery in the box or not. The only drawback is that the charger has a heat sensor that needs to be placed against the battery. This eliminates the possibility of overheating the battery during a charge cycle but may make charging inconvenient.

Also, the remote operates as an ON/OFF, not momentary. You will need to remember to turn off the remote otherwise the coil will stay energized and you will not be able to reset the launcher and the battery will drain.
I have not checked the see how many amps the system draws but I think that the battery will last through quite a few cycles of momentary use.

Let me know if there are any other questions.

John

I'll throw one more thing out there, I have an electronics assembly shop from work I used to do. If anyone is interested I would consider putting together the components so that all you would need to do is mount them to the launcher and plug it in. If you are interested in this PM me and I'll see what it would take to put it all together.

Here is another possible option for the remote, this one is momentary. Does not look too bad for the price.

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Remote-C ... al_qh_dp_t

Thanks for all the information John. That Jeep winch transmitter/receiver could maybe be used to operate two launchers if you used the corresponding pair of wires for in/out on the two different launchers.

nhachman wrote:Thanks for all the information John. That Jeep winch transmitter/receiver could maybe be used to operate two launchers if you used the corresponding pair of wires for in/out on the two different launchers.

You're right, the only drawback I see to that unit is it is only rated for 50'. I'm not sure if that would be an issue or not.