Pantiger (Panther) stop running

[SteelBird]

Hi,

My first RC tank, HL Pantiger. I have modify it restively serious as following:
- High speed metal gearbox
- Metal tracks, sprockets and idlers
- 4500 mAh exchanging with stock 1700 mAh battery
- HL 2.4Ghz remote controller and multifunction unit
- Move main switch from bottom to rear
- Add a battery charging plug so no need to remove battery for charging
- A fast charger that charges battery full in 15mn
- Seal most of the "holes" below the tank to prevent sand and (if possible) water

I have done all the modification and here are the problems I have.
- One of the idlers malfunction as the screw which also used as bearing gets stuck with the idler. Idler spin, screw also spin and idler drop out of the tank. Now I can only use stock plastic idlers. I'd like to know if there a way to disassemble the idler to remove and replace the screw?
- I don't when this start but the tank runs for awhile and stop like lost connection between remote controller and the tank. I guess the multifunction unit gets hot and stop working. Is that the case? Add a fan on the unit would solve the problem?

Upgraded Pantiger and 2.4Ghz remote controller


Rear session after modify


Seal the holes


With metal tracks and high speed gearboxes I can drift my tank!

[tiger tiger]

Hi with the idler wheels they usually can be split into 2 halves giving access to the retaining screws sometimes they are just pushed together and others may be held together with 2 small screws at rear of idler wheel which can be seen when they are removed. hope this helps out.

Regards stuart

[SteelBird]

thanks stuart, idler wheels problem solved. like you said, I split them into two parts to find out one of the screw is not so smooth. I smooth it out and apply some grease then done!

regarding the engine stops after some 15mn, I have new find out. I recently bought an "automatic 15 mins super fast charger". this charger charges for 15mn and alarms that the battery is full. I doubt it's really that the battery of 4500mAh only last 15mn of play time. Now I turn to the stock charger which may requires up to 15 hours charge time. Will let you know the result.

The charger

[MichaelC]

It is probably your super duper 15 min charger. It is not likely that your 4500 mAh gets fully charged in 15 minutes. Is there a way to keep charging with the charger ? Stock would be painfully slow.........

[SteelBird]

It is probably your super duper 15 min charger. It is not likely that your 4500 mAh gets fully charged in 15 minutes. Is there a way to keep charging with the charger ? Stock would be painfully slow.........

At least, today I make clear one thing, the battery is OK, the super fast charger has problem. I charged the 4500mAh battery with stock charger. It took 12 hours to fully charge the battery (the charge light went green). I play for more than half an hour and battery is still powerful.

The only way to keep the super fast charger keep charging after 15 minutes is to unplug and plug again, then charger would charge another 15 minutes stupid charger, huh?

[MichaelC]

It will still beat the stock charger. It might take you a hour or two depended on the rating of the charger obviously. Is there any spec on the back of the thing so you can estimate how many time you have to plug/unplug, or can you just press start again ?

[SteelBird]

It will still beat the stock charger. It might take you a hour or two depended on the rating of the charger obviously. Is there any spec on the back of the thing so you can estimate how many time you have to plug/unplug, or can you just press start again ?

I look 360 degree around the charger, and the worst thing is that the frontal is the only place that there are some printing on it. It's all the information the charger has.

I never try however I think if we press start again, the charger should start charging again. Given the size of the charger, I think it at least take 1 hour to fully charge the battery.

Further, I've read a lot about the malfunction of the smoking unit. Mine is the same. After a few time it stops working. I think the reason is there is not enough pressure to force the smoke out. If I remove the (transparent) tube, the smoke will come out. Somebody suggests to cut off part of the cotton. Will that work? However, smoke effect is not so important to me.

[MichaelC]

If smoke is coming out when you remove the tubing, then maybe there is a kink somewhere along the plastic tube line. You could also replace the stock hard plastic tube line with soft silicon ones you can get at any pet store. There are the same as the air lines in aquariums. No kinks ever on those, and they are smoother inside so smoke will have less resistance.

[SteelBird]

If smoke is coming out when you remove the tubing, then maybe there is a kink somewhere along the plastic tube line. You could also replace the stock hard plastic tube line with soft silicon ones you can get at any pet store. There are the same as the air lines in aquariums. No kinks ever on those, and they are smoother inside so smoke will have less resistance.

I modify the smoke unit according to your instruction. Fortunately, I have aquarium air tube at home as I also raise fish. I change only one tube and here is the result:

https://youtu.be/zeJWRcCuaGU

[MichaelC]

That's about as good as you can get from a stock HL smoker Steel.