Delays on IBU2U

[Lotuswins]

Hi Ibuman, Carl,

So I got the HK cables in to connect the receiver up to the board for testing. I connected the relays, etc. up to the board as I had in the tank previously. The contacts on the relay which short across the pins for the airsoft connections are/were always 'dry' contacts so no voltage was impressed on the processor pins. Wiring is as your schematic, Ibuman, except I only disconnect one side of the airsoft motor, 'porting' the negative gun fire signal between the airsoft motor and the relay that short across the airsoft contacts. No change in performance, as expected. Still a short delay for the relay to pickup and fire the cannon. I changed the mechanical recoil duration to 100 (minimum), no change.

I hooked up a new servo to the recoil connection, and it is delayed as with the recoil/sound/etc. If I flick the cannon fire switch quickly, I see the transmitter screen show channel 3 go to full travel but no firing of the cannon. I have to hold the switch for a micro second and then it will fire.

An anomaly to accompany this delay is reverse. It will rev up before moving, and if I edge into reverse, it will start reversing. However, if I move the stick sharply down, it will rev up, but otherwise ignore the command to reverse and nothing happens, no movement of the gear motors. Holding the stick in full reverse, still nothing.

So something is going on with the time it takes to detect the signal. Its not happening on any other tanks, the cannon fire happens by the time the switch is moved half way. I have IBU2 Base units, Clark TK22s, Taigen V2's, and now Open Panzer TCBs, all with no delays, and on this transmitter and identical receivers (I've tried swapping out receivers too).

Perhaps the signal is moving too fast for the IBU2U to detect? and when it gets there, it finally realizes its there and it will fire? I tried slowing down the up movement of the channel 3 to see if that helped, no luck.

Ideas? jerry

[c.rainford73]

Hi Jerry the delay in the recoil servo plugged directly into the Ibu2U is the same as the delay with the other setup....

The reverse direction issue seems unusual, I know I will have delays when my inertia is enabled, but not to that extent.

I've not experienced anything like that with either of my IBU2u boards.

With my IBU's in the past I had one dodgy SD card that made me pull some hair out, very erratic behavior.

The only issue I've encountered with my IBU2U in my m1 Abrams was in full throttle forward, the engine sound would shut down as if I turned it off and then the tank would stop. What I discovered is with the weight of the running gear Steel gearboxes, larger motors and heavy tracks I had to change the amp setting up from stock. Not what you are describing though I'm afraid.

I will be watching closely and hope you get a resolution soon

Carl

[theibuman]

Hello Jerry, Carl ...
First of all a brief explanation :
The boards was designed to work in two modes, recoil or airsoft and both recoil or airsoft gearbox are pretty similar.

In recoil mode when the command (usually full throw of left stick axis Y) is detected the board wait for some milliSecond to be sure is a command and not a glitch, then do :

Gun sound, Barrel Flash blink, xenon pulse, IR code beam and a short pulse to drive the recoil motor enough time to unlatch the EOT microswitch
After this pulse the recoil motor turns until the EOT microswitch is pressed and cut the negative supply to recoil motor.
In this case the ibu2u.ini file line : MrPulseTime=500 HAVE EFFECT and drive the recoil motor (negative pulse) for the preset time (in this case 500 millSeconds)
The choice of make the pulse time adjustable was made because the gearboxes performance are different each other, if you have a "lazy" gearbox you may need 1 Second
to unlatch the microswitch, on the other side you may have a "quick" gearbox where 1 Second makes the gearbox to recoil twice.

In Airsoft mode when the command is detected the board wait for some milliSeconds as above then start drive the motor (negative pulse) as long as you hold the Stick and
wait for the pulse input from microswitch (in this case the microswitch is placed on gearbox where it will be pressed when the pellet is released).
After this the Main Gun sound is played and all the other stuffs
In this case the ibu2u.ini file line : MrPulseTime=500 HAVE NO EFFECT as stated in commentary of the command line itself.

Jerry's case is out of normal usage of the board but, with the mod done it work anyway, holding the stick for enough time, a short pulse (which is enough for Recoil mode)
is not enough in airsoft mode.
During development we thought about to drive automatically the airsoft motor until microswitch detection, but in case of malfunction of microswitch the board drive
the airsoft continously and you must turn off the supply to stop it.

Apart from this, if the relay coil have the motor winding in series to the supply line again a delay is normal, the high number of turns act as a delay line (in late 70' when i was working in US
at Honeywell Information Systems we used coils as delay line in computer to adjust timings).

The reverse issue you describing i think is the revving and brake.
When engine idling when you move the engine stick fast full down (or full up) the revving sound is played and the tank don't move, you have to put the stick back to neutral.
When you're moving forward (or backwards and brake simulation is enabled) you can brake by moving the stick in opposite direction the tank will brake (with n
rear/brake lights ON) and stay stopped until you release the stick to neutral.

BTW i just noted that these feature aren't described well on User Manual, my fault, i'll recover it in these days, sorry ...
Also i noted that when firing the main gun the revving sound is played (with engine ON) and this is not correct, probably the last FW update have corrupted something.

Regards
Ivano
edited to correct some typo errors

[Lotuswins]

Ivano,

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Is is possible to adjust the anti-glitch delay time you describe in your second sentence? For some reason I think the delay is too long on my IBU2U? I assume you can adjust it either with software programming, or with a firmware change?

Thanks, Jerry

[Peregrine]

Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry to interrupt, I don't want to seem like I'm veering off the subject, and I definitely wish Jerry's issue is resolved (although I think Ivano's last post shone a light on why this may be happening).

But I noticed something worth chipping in. I know most people in Europe and UK use IR, but for those of us who use airsoft the below explained enhancement would be of great benefit.
Ivano said:

...
During development we thought about to drive automatically the airsoft motor until microswitch detection, but in case of malfunction of microswitch the board drive the airsoft continously and you must turn off the supply to stop it.

I understand this concern, and on some level it makes sense, but let's analyze this closer.
1)
If anyone has a problem with the airsoft microswitch (or any important functionality like that related to shooting) they would want to investigate the problem immediately. If I hear my airsoft motor turning over and over without stopping, I'd immediately suspect the microswitch or maybe some short circuit on a ground wire going to the motor. Turning the motor over and over won't damage the airsoft unit. I'd simply shut it down and investigate.
But if you have to hold the button until the airsoft motor winds up to shoot, and you see a shot but no sound or recoil, that may be a little more confusing to figure out. Luckily that microswitch is very simple to figure out, but still, may not be as obvious to look at in that case.
2)
If the airsoft motor is driven automatically from momentary radio signal, and it stops when microswitch is trigerred, it ensures the airsoft springs are always left in their idle positions. But if you drive the motor as long as the signal is on, it's possible, and probably not infrequent that the person will still hold that button for a split second longer after the shot was made. In which case, the airsoft unit will be potentially left with springs partially extended/compressed. This does not help when we all want to get the most fps out of those little toys. And if you leave it like that for an extended period of time, it will definitely affect effectiveness of those springs.

Bottom line, so what that the motor will keep turning until you shut down the board? Problem exists and needs to be fixed either way, and no one in their right mind would drive the tank while it's continuously "magically" shooting, but they would want to investigate. But if you change it to drive the motor automatically until it gets signal from microswitch, it'll be much more consistent to shoot (1 flick of a switch would always make the shot) and would not allow abusing those airsoft springs.

Hope you consider changing it

Now back to Jerry's issue.

[Lotuswins]

Thank you Peregrine,

I agree on the airsoft stop on microswitch, that would be very nice.

I really would like to adjust the signal detection circuit from transmitter....the whole point of this thread.

and thirdly, being able to turn the motor pre-revving on or off as needed would be necessary if anyone wants to battle with this board....the delay is significant.

Any thoughts Ivano?

jerry