Complete newbie in trouble

[Mockfish]

Hi everyone. Good to meet you. I hope someone can help me out with a problem.

So, knowing nothing about RC tanks, I admit, I have purchased two Heng Long tanks from TPA Store via Amazon; a Tiger I and a T34/85. They arrived yesterday.

I charged the batteries overnight and got new AA batteries for the transmitters.

When I turn the transmitters on, the power lights do not come on. When I turn the tanks on, the headlights flash. The tanks do not respond to the starter button. Neither of the tanks function.

I searched for possible solutions and the general recommendation is to change or replace the crystal. Which brings me to my problem.

The are no crystals on my transmitters. In the spot where the crystal should be is a pair of black buttons; V on the left and S on the right.

Also, upon further inspection, I discovered that many of the switches shown in the manual do not exist on either of my tanks. My tanks are missing the volume control and the smoke switch. Nor is there a socket for a receiving crystal.

Someone please tell me that I didn't buy two piles of junk. I thought I'd buy something solid to toy around with my grandson on the weekends. I hope that maybe this is simply my own incompetence showing and somebody can point me in the right direction for a fix.

Thanks in advance

[PainlessWolf]

Welcome to the Forum, Mockfish.
It sounds like you have purchased HL 2.4 GHz Tanks and radios. This is good. There will be no crystals but there should be a separate instruction sheet explaining how to bind the tanks each to it's own radio. The V and S buttons on the radios are how you adjust the volume ( V ) and turn the smoker on and off ( S ) without having to resort to tiny, hard to reach buttons on the tank itself. Once you bind the radios, your tanks should work fine.
regards,
Painless

[jackalope]

Hello, Painless beat me to it. Also make sure you check the batteries as I've found some times the metal contacts the batteries are meant to touch are like they are mashed flat and the batteries can not make contact. I had to put a small flat blade screw driver behind the metal contacts of my 1 transmitter and give them a slight bend toward where the batteries sit and it fixed the problem.

[jarndice]

HI, welcome to the Forum, As most of us discovered in the beginning it is very confusing, I have to tell you it always will be
What you need to remember is YOU HAVE TO SWITCH THE TRANSMITTER ON FIRST!!! BEFORE YOU SWITCH ON THE TANK. shaun

[hawkeye3guns]

Hi
I noted on your question that the transmitter red power was not on.
This is caused normally as already stated by the batteries mnot making contact. HL for some reason put a stupid plastic divider between the batteries and in my place I've had 3 transmitters now where it has caused the same fault as you have. The light must be on! indicating the transmitter is powered up.
As stated already you must have the transmitter turned on first, then turn on the tank and you will see the headlights flash (indicating the power is on) Next press the starter button (key symbol on your transmitter) and you should here the tank engine start. The headlights will keep flashing until the engine start up is complete and then the headlights will change to being continously on .
At this point the tank should now be ready to drive and play with.
To switch off
First press the start up key button to kill the engine noise and the headlights will return to a flashing mode. Turn off the tank power and now finally turn off the transmitter
You should always stick to this sequence of events to prevent a possible runaway tank. (especially if around other tankers as there transmitter might take over your tank)
Hope this helps and have a great time with your youngsters.
regards Denzil

[forgebear]

hi if that has not worked what denzil has said the next bit is to try this
1 turn on your radio
2 press and hold the start button
3 in the base of the tank where the battery is there is a little black button push that while holding the start button
the tank should start and the bind will be made hope this helps dave