Elmod on board fuse

[wibblywobbly]

Does anyone know where the on board Elmod fuse is? The one that controls the turret/lights functions. Mine blew for no reason last year and I returned the board for repair. It took about a month to get it back. I have just completely rebuilt the tank with RCTank metal hull, and it was running fine before the rebuild. In order to ensure that I could not blow the fuse again, the last time the board came back I connected all turret and other wiring to a 13 wide block connector. The leads the other side run to the plugs on the board, this way absolutely nothing can possibly be connected the wrong way. It was running fine before the new hull was fitted, and now I put the plugs back in and the fuse has gone again.

I would rather fix it myself than send it back again and be without the tank, so if anyone knows can they tell me where to look?

Cheers

Rob G

[tiger205]

rob, instead of sending it back to elmod why not email him and ask him where the fuse is, thomas as you know is a good bloke, and i'm sure he would help

              Tony

[wibblywobbly]

Hi

I emailed him, but haven't received a reply, hence my question on here to see if anyone knew where the fuse was located. I am mystified as to why Elmod put a surface mounted fuse on their boards that can blow and cut power to both the 8 pin socket and the 5 pin auxilliary socket, which cannot be replaced with a simple swap out. Tamiya use circuit breaker fuses on their boards that reset after an overload, but Elmod don't.

I went to the ends of the earth to configure my wiring so that nothing could short out or get connected incorrectly and the fuse still blew.  It wasn't an overload, it simply blew when the tank was switched on, which is very mysterious. If Thomas can tell me where the component is and the spec, I should be able to source it in the UK and replace it myself.

Fingers crossed!

Cheers

Rob G

[tiger205]

hi rob
        is youre elmod the older type like me?, ie, a tls blaster & booster?, if it is i will take mine over to nigel later and get him to have a look, he should be able to suss out whats what

              Tony

[wibblywobbly]

Its the new all singing all dancing one, I have attached a pic of where the 8 pin and 5 pin sockets converge on the back of the pcb. I don't know what this component is, but there is no continuity across it. If you can ask Nigel whether there should be, then I will know where the problem lies. It says KGM on it if that will help.

Many thanks for your assistance, much appreciated.

Rob G

[tiger205]

no worries rob, i will ring nigel tonight and see what he can come up with

              Tony

[NigelDerEnglander]

Hi folks,

From the pictures I would say the component you've ringed is a capacitor. Hence no continuity. If you bend it over it will probably have three numbers on the other side like e.g. 103, 472, 224, or similar. Either way, this component isn't 'the smoking gun'.

If you post some more pictures of the ElMod kit from both sides, I might be able to recognise the fuse. I would have thought he would use a "Polyfuse" which resets once cooled down.

Will try to help if I can - though Tony's experience of ElMod is that they are _very_ helpful. I would imagine that any delay would be due to component supply problems. As a 1 or 2-man (I think) band, ElMod will not manufacture the boards themselves, but subcontract I imagine once a design is formalised. Hence he probably doesn't have the components in stock himself and repairs will all be one-offs.

Nige

[wibblywobbly]

Hi Nigel

Thanks for your help, I couldn't see any poly fuses on the board, but you may be able to spot something similar. I have uploaded the pics full size so that you get a clearer look at things. I do wonder where Elmod is going. As a 2 man enthusiastic band with low turnover they were happy to provide support, and this may have been the case in the early days. However, as orders came in I would imagine that the volume of queries did as well, along with all of the other problems that hit an expanding business. At some point they have to either employ more staff to handle the queries, thus increasing operating costs, and thereby reducing profit margins, or increasing the cost of their product. The biggest step forward that they could make is to encase the boards, and provide comprehensive fitting instructions. Two cheap fixes that would save them a fortune in the long term. Time will tell I guess, this isn't Tamiya, and though they are exceptional electronics guru's, they may not be streetwise in operating an efficient business. If they go to the wall, we are all left with some very expensive boards! I actually like the Heng Long/Darkith combination, it's cheap and cheerful and easy to fix.

Many thanks

Rob G

[NigelDerEnglander]

Hi Rob,

I've had a good look at the two pictures you supplied and can't see any polyfuses or obviously blown components.

Problem is though that I have never seen such a board in the flesh so haven't the faintest idea where anything plugs in! All I can say that there is an odd black thing in the corner where I _assume_ the power goes in! But if that were a fuse the whole thing wouldn't work!

Sorry, but I can't help you further.

Nige

[wibblywobbly]

Thats ok Nigel, fortunately I have a neice who works in Germany as an English language teacher. I am going to ask her if she can ring Elmod and get a response. You wouldn't believe how many people PM me for info after getting no help from Thomas. I have managed to source another board so I will be able to use that until this one gets fixed.

Cheers

Rob G