Strange IBU2 problem

[deathrawt]

I have a very strange issue with one of my ibu2 boards. The passenger side drive will just quit working forward for no reason. It will work fine going in reverse and the tank can pivot turn the one way but not the other because the track will not drive forward. Then if I mess around with it it will all of a sudden start working again for a while then it quits! I tried changing all the receiver leads to new ones as I have had issues with them in the past but it didn't help. I tried two different radios and even tried it in two different tanks but get the same result. I think some smoke oil may have got on the board. I do not see any damage on the board all the chips and circuits look good. Anyone else have an issue like this?

[tomhugill]

I have a very strange issue with one of my ibu2 boards. The passenger side drive will just quit working forward for no reason. It will work fine going in reverse and the tank can pivot turn the one way but not the other because the track will not drive forward. Then if I mess around with it it will all of a sudden start working again for a while then it quits! I tried changing all the receiver leads to new ones as I have had issues with them in the past but it didn't help. I tried two different radios and even tried it in two different tanks but get the same result. I think some smoke oil may have got on the board. I do not see any damage on the board all the chips and circuits look good. Anyone else have an issue like this?

If it wasn't an intermittent fault I would say one of the drive fets had blown. Could be its on its last legs. Give tank bear a message he will sort you out.

[Tankbear]

Sounds like one of the mosfets it's working correctly, but normally the indication is bad performance i.e. slower than normal or won't work at all. As you say sometimes it works it could possible be something else, as you said smoke oil might of got on the board. So remove IBU2 and gently wipe it down, specially under neath at the motor lead end (you see a grid of 4 x 2 small chips, these are the control mosfets). use mild cleaner containing alcohol to remove oil residue then dry with kitchen roll/paper, let it dry for an hour then try again.

Ian.

[deathrawt]

Thanks for the replies guys! I tried what Ian suggested and cleaned the board with isopropyl alcohol. After an hour or so I put it back in and it still gave me the problem but then it started to work and appears to be fine now. The only strange thing it does now is when I fire the gun the track recoil is intense, the tank goes full reverse for about a foot and then stops! I will try to reload the pz iv data on the micro sd card and see if that helps.
I had a super smoker in the tank and I don't think I will use the smokers with the Ibu boards from now on, not in the small tanks at least. I have one and an ibu in my tiger 1 and there is lots of room between them so it should be fine. Let this be a reminder to everyone to keep their smokers as far away from the electronics as possible to avoid having troubles.

[Tankbear]

The tank going backwards after track recoil is sometimes an indication of battery getting flat. Glad the clean up has sorted the first problem.

[atcttge]

Let this be a reminder to everyone to keep their smokers as far away from the electronics as possible to avoid having troubles.

If it's possible, build a bulkhead or some barrier to separate both electronics and smoker or gearbox. That way, the electronics don't get contaminated with whatever stuff the other two components throw out.

[deathrawt]

I have the ibu in a taigen pz iv, there is not much room in there but it is possible to make some king of barrier. I do have one for the gearbox, I just made it using some heavy cardboard and it works well.
The problem I had was when I had the tank upside down to install the battery some smoke fluid leaked out the hole in the top of the super smoker and on to the board. I thought that running the filler tube down to the bottom battery box was a good idea for filling the smoker with fluid rather then cutting a hole in the top hull but my brain fart was that I forgot the law of gravity!