Arduino 2560 project

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 2560 project

Post by wibblywobbly »

Thanks for the info Luke, I have a friend who has genuine Benedini boards, you have answered the question that he has just asked me. :thumbup:
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Re: Arduino 2560 project

Post by wibblywobbly »

For anyone following this tale, a quick update, now re-edited following last nights retest of the v1 Micro clone.

I have had the tank running (drive motors, turret rotation, servo recoil, muzzle flash) with all engine sounds and the main gun sound using a DasMikro 'Micro' board, and the 'old' Benedini Flash program.

I'll keep working on a PDF to explain how to do all of this, though it won't be an overnight job, I want to make it as simple as possible to understand. :thumbup:

A Taigen sound module can be hooked up to the Arduino very easily, though I haven't tested this as I don't have one. :/

If you want all the bells and whistles, the way to go is to buy the genuine Benedini Mini, download the Flash program, and make full use of Luke's excellent Wiki on the OP forum.
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Re: Arduino 2560 project

Post by wibblywobbly »

After some tinkering with files, I have at last got the missing cannon sound out of the DasMikro Micro board, which means an ultra cheap way of getting the sound set running with the Arduino 2560. :wave:

If anyone is doing this project I have posted settings on the OP Forum, under TCB Dev.

I'll post a video tomorrow.
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Re: Arduino 2560 project

Post by LukeZ »

Right, just to clarify for others reading, the Micro does work with the Open Panzer board (commercial TCB or DIY version it doesn't matter), as described in the Wiki here.

The Micro (and clones) will only work with Benedini's Flash v1. He disabled support for the Micro in later versions of Flash because by then the Chinese had begun to clone it and he simply quit selling it or supporting it. However the Micro clones are still being sold and Flash v1 is pretty much all over the internet at this point, so you can still use it. However the Micro/Flash v1 combination has limited options when used with the Open Panzer board (only engine sounds, cannon and machine gun, that's it).

The Mini has many more options when used with the Open Panzer board but it requires Benedini's Flash v3 or v4, which Thomas will provide you if you buy a Mini from him. Of course the Chinese have recently cloned the Mini as well but they are not providing the Flash software so without that it is not of much use. Please support Thomas!

The setup for using the Mini with Open Panzer is described on this page in the Wiki.
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Re: Arduino 2560 project

Post by wibblywobbly »

Well this is this project pretty much done. I always wanted to know if it could be done, and as I hadn't seen anyone else do it, I thought I would have a go myself. I went from knowing nothing about the TCB to learning a huge amount over the weeks that I was working on it. Luke was an immense help, I can't thank him enough.

It's not remotely difficult to do. Very little soldering, and all of the components are cheap. The advantages are the customisable sounds, and as all components are separated, if anything fails, it can be replaced, rather than buying a whole new set up as is the case with other aftermarket systems.

It's set up with motor drive and sounds, and main gun sound, you can of course take a look around the Open Panzer site and see the long list of what the TCB firmware can do. The options are pretty much endless, different speed controllers, sound systems, IR battle system etc etc, plus all of the programming options that are available from the on screen display via a USB.

As mentioned previously, I'll do a PDF showing what I did, and why, with a step by step how-to.

phpBB [video]
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