TK40 reverse issue?

Discussion for Clark electronics.
User avatar
wibblywobbly
Major
Posts: 6398
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:30 am
Location: South Wales Valley
Contact:

TK40 reverse issue?

Post by wibblywobbly »

I have numerous TK22's and 24's, and just bought two TK40's.

After a couple of hiccups with getting them to run, I am left with one issue that is puzzling me.

Right stick forward - tank goes forward.
Right stick upper left - tank turns left.
Right stick upper right - tank turns right.
Right stick left - pivot turn left.
Right stick right - pivot turn right.

But:
Right stick lower left - reverses to the right.
Right stick lower right - reverses to the left.

All of my previous TK's reverse the same way as the stick, but these two go the wrong way.

I am running PWM versions of the boards, and standard gearboxes in two identical KV1 lowers.

Is this normal on TK40 boards, or is there a setting in the IR programming that affects it? I haven't been able to see anything, the only thing that might affect it is the Mixer option, but it shouldn't, and both options seem to do the same as option 1? I get pivot turn either way.

Pressing the Surround button to disable hull recoil doesn't produce an led flash, so I have had to set it to 1 for a minimal movement.

Just wondering if these boards operate in a different way to previous TK's?
Tiger 1 Late
Panther G
King Tiger
M36 B1
User avatar
43rdRecceReg
Major
Posts: 6295
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:38 am
Location: North West Highlands, Scotland

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

Some sort of conflict between the mixing function on the TX, and the mixing function built into the TK 40, perhaps? Reading the Q & A's, the mixer function on the transmitter needs to be turned off, according to Clark. Not sure how one achieves that, though...I guess it depends on the TX. :think:
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
User avatar
wibblywobbly
Major
Posts: 6398
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:30 am
Location: South Wales Valley
Contact:

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by wibblywobbly »

That's what I thought, but all of the tx mixing is switched off. I can use the same tx settings on a TK24 and reverse works as it should do. The two mixing options in the TK40 programming seem to be identical, even though one should disable pivot turns.
Tiger 1 Late
Panther G
King Tiger
M36 B1
User avatar
43rdRecceReg
Major
Posts: 6295
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:38 am
Location: North West Highlands, Scotland

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

:think: Just a wild bit of speculation, but I see that there are 6 selectable mixer modes on the Tk 40. Some are aimed at tanks, and others at half-tracks. I wonder whether your board is set for half-tracks, perhaps?
Never having set up a half-track, it's hard for me to say, but I imagine that having steering via wheels and tracks could possibly create a few gremlins :think:
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
User avatar
wibblywobbly
Major
Posts: 6398
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:30 am
Location: South Wales Valley
Contact:

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by wibblywobbly »

I've reprogrammed it, tried Mixer options 1 & 3, but reverse is still the same. :'(
Tiger 1 Late
Panther G
King Tiger
M36 B1
User avatar
43rdRecceReg
Major
Posts: 6295
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:38 am
Location: North West Highlands, Scotland

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

In which case, I'm just as stumped as you are, Rob :problem: :(
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
User avatar
wibblywobbly
Major
Posts: 6398
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:30 am
Location: South Wales Valley
Contact:

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by wibblywobbly »

I am thinking that only Clark may know the answer, but it is Chinese Holiday time. Strangely when programming one of the boards initially I lost all power to the motors. No idea what I had pressed to do that, I was all set to return the boards, but after playing around with mixers and hull recoil settings, power magically came back?

The Surround button is supposed to disable the hull recoil, but it doesn't even flash the led when I press it, so I can't disable it, only reduce it to a nudge using the adjustment setting.
Tiger 1 Late
Panther G
King Tiger
M36 B1
User avatar
43rdRecceReg
Major
Posts: 6295
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:38 am
Location: North West Highlands, Scotland

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

There's another feature in this board you won't find in earlier iterations: The 'Carefree Reversing' feature (could, of course, be the 'Careless Reversing' feature if the tank goes the wrong way ;) )
here's a vendor's description of it:
"....Carefree reversing:Unlike some other control board, there is no need for TK series board to delay before being commanded to reverse,can go from full forward immediately to full reverse or vice versa...."
The problem could be connected with this, possibly. Maybe the supply voltage is suddenly routed to the left esc, when it should be powering the right..and so on. :problem:
I wonder whether other Tk 40 users have experienced the same problem? If so, then it could be down to a firmware glitch.
Last edited by 43rdRecceReg on Fri Mar 08, 2019 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
User avatar
wibblywobbly
Major
Posts: 6398
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:30 am
Location: South Wales Valley
Contact:

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by wibblywobbly »

My guess is also the firmware. The boards are used for SBUS and PWM variations, and can be configured for the DKLM gearboxes. I have no idea if it is the case, but it may be that in order for the boards to work with the DKLM gearboxes the esc's have had to be programmed to run the wrong way in reverse?

It may also explain why Mixer option 1 & 3 are now the same on the PWM version, as the Mixer options are different on the SBUS versions.

It seems a bit of a coincidence that I can use a TK24 in the same tank, with the same tx, and it will reverse turn normally.

Either way I can live with it, but if there was an easy fix, that would be good too. I was just hoping that someone else had a PWM TK40, and whether they had the same reverse issue?
Tiger 1 Late
Panther G
King Tiger
M36 B1
Dusty Steppes
Private
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:51 pm

Re: TK40 reverse issue?

Post by Dusty Steppes »

I just installed a tk40 in a t34. I use a turnigy 9x for the transmitter so I just copied the model I used for a t34 eith a tk22 and I ran into a few issues with the channels used for driving. Unfortunately right now I have to go to work so I won't be able to dig into what I did to resolve the issues until tomorrow morning. I can tell one thing I had to do was reverse the channel(s?) on the transmitter.
Post Reply

Return to “Clark”