Arduino Uno IR Battle System

This forum relates to the Open Source Tank Control Board (TCB). Please read the sticky and visit the main site to find out all about the board and how to install it.
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wibblywobbly
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Re: Arduino Uno IR Battle System

Post by wibblywobbly »

After playing around with different RX18's they do not all operate the same way.

The T90 boards will send a pulse on pins 2 & 5 of the 8 pin.

The pre T90 2.4ghz boards don't. The airsoft works off pins 5 & 6.

The CN3 socket must have a plug in it, and if you are not using airsoft then the two right hand wires must me connected to each other. Pins 5 & 6 on the 8 pin will then pulse around 5v when the left stick is pushed up, the main gun K button will not have the desired effect.
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Panther G
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wibblywobbly
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Posts: 6398
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Re: Arduino Uno IR Battle System

Post by wibblywobbly »

After getting sidetracked with various builds, and touching up paintwork after the summer club meets, I finally today got back to looking at this little project.

I can confirm that it works subject to a few requirements that make it easy to do:

1. Arduino Uno
2. Screw terminal adaptors that make life way easier than trying to get pins to stay in holes.
3. A voltage regulator, either an adustable one or a resistor set up.
4. Two batteries, one for the tank and one for the Arduino. Both can be standard 7.2v tank batteries.
5. IR emitter and receiver pcb's.
6. A pre-T90 2.4ghz RX18.
7. A 2 pin plug with the +/- wires soldered together needs to go into pins 4 & 5 of the middle 5 pin socket at the top of the RX18.

You end up with an HL tank, with an RX18 that has a Tamiya compatible IR system, eg IR emitter, IR sensors, and flashing hit lights, for very little money. If you ever decide to sell the tank you can of course pull the board out and use it for any other Arduino project.

The IR works on the right stick up, rather than the fire button, and you will still have the horrible hull recoil (there used to be a way of getting ridof this on the old RX13/14 using a jumper wire and a diode - but haven't seen the same solution anywhere for the RX18). My next step is to get the recoil servo working reliably. I suspect that it will need a separate power supply, such as a 6v battery pack (4 x 1.5v AA batteries?). Space is now at a premium but I should be able to get one in there somehow.

I built an A3 plotter using an Arduino Uno, it was at this point that I discovered that cheap Chinese servo's are not all created equal, and that glitching, positioning, and reliable operation varies between them. Hence I need to find a way to get around this problem to pull a barrel reliably.

I also have an sd card based sound card, and intend looking at how to get a realistic gun fire sound using that. I will probably disconnect the HL speaker as imho no engine sound is better than the HL offering.

Will post updates as and when I make progress.... 8O
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