I've just fried the main board

[Roboticus_Prime]

Chase, there's a guy at DTC that has a Tamiya pershing and he's got it set up to drive backwards all the time! He says it just drives much better that way.

That's because all of the weight is at the back. Plus, with the low drive sprockets, going backwards keeps them from picking up stuff and binding. I'm looking into a solution to help reduce this. I think the T-81 tracks will help because they are wider than the sprockets. Of course T-81's are expensive, however I do have an idea for a 'close enough' solution.

[Marc780]

Oh that...done that two or three times meself and never seems to get less aggravating. Expensive and painful mistake mind you but it does teach you things. Even though i did fry 3 Rx boxes, all of them that I fried, were ones that had been disconnected from (for testing something else) or not yet fitted, with the fuse! I have had good luck with the 2.4 Ghz heng long receivers. Keep them from an over-amp condition and they last plenty long. But they are far more sensive then the TK22 someone mentioned (as well as a lot cheaper). I use ONLY the 3.4 Ghz as i have had no luck at all with the RX18's. No range and the tank goes off to explore on his own far too often for my taste. This just doesn't happen with the 2.4 Ghz receiver, the range is almost 100 feet too - no external antenna used, nor needed. I have not been doing much at all with the tanks lately, but your post brought back memories...frying fuses and all the rest - maybe my next effort will be waterproofing my tiger up to the turret just like the early Tunisian tigers were fitted! What a challenge that would be... (oh bugger it, i might as well just get out the check book right now, because i know how that's going to end)



My ass't getting in a little time on my Mk IIII - just kidding, an old Lara croft doll

Long story short, Item #1 i always add a 7.5 amp, or a 10 amp fuse inline with the Rx power... You could use 5 amp, for a while if that is what you have and it will work for light driving. But 10 amps seems about the norm, what everybody uses and what works. 20 amps would be counterproductive, no doubt, and 5 amps and maybe even 7.4 amps and you will be all day changing fuses so - 10 is ideal. The IDEAL solution ot this is to have a resettable breaker, i've heard mentions of people doing this but never seen it. But it would beat changing fuses any day.

The process could not be easier, all you need is several fuses, wire cutters, solderless connector crimper tool )i have also soldered and even glued these on on occasion) and a set of the female type of solderless connectors. Find the plug-in wire, that is the "power in" to your Rx box. Now find the red wire, cut it, and attach your solderless connectors there. You can surmise by now, your fuse goes there now. The two ends just go on the fuse prongs, and voila, you're up and running again with your costly Rx box should now safe and sound from (MOST) over-amp conditions. Long ago i was driving my king tiger through some of that mulchy stuff that apartments throw on the plants for appearance, and a stick got caught in the tracks. The fuse blew, but that was all! Motors and Rx intact.
anyway this picture is a big bright, but shows all there is to show about that.

The light white arrow in the image about 1/3 way in the img, points to the fuse i spliced in next to the old style attenta booster card (not sure when i took the photo as i've used the 2.4 sets forever). A pciture being worth a thousand words, power flow is evident: red power wire from battery > soldereless connector > input prong of fuse >output output prong of fuse>solderlesss connector #2>hot wire lead of plug into Rx box.



The connectors i am talking about come in several sizes, yellow (too big) red (might work but probably too small) and the blue, either solid blue or opaque blue ones are what I use. The blue fit the larger (non micro) automotive fuses. I never tried the micro fuses, the "prongs" are very tiny and I don't believe will work well for this purpose, i think. You can use the micro fuses, why not, but you are going to want to splice in the special made fuse holder that fits them too. Since adding in the full size conn. are so easy, i say why? Just use the full size fuses.
These fit so well like they were made for them, there's no fuse holder required unless you want it. They do make it look neater but the extra wiring and all that plastic, takes up an awful lot of interior hull space.

If you shove on the connector to your fuse and find it is too loose and pops off, just give them a moderately forceful squish with some pliers. Til they will press fit on and stay on how tightly you want them to.
Heck i even tape spare fuses inside the hull sometimes - finally a use for those authentic scale storage boxes, wot wot? .

[Marty]

Thanks for that Marc, this is a great mod which I'm will try and incorporate as I go through my rebuild I have started the cleanup a paint but progress is a bit slow with some other modelling commitments I have.

The fuse holder? Is it a item you bought or just made.

Cheers mate.

Scrap that I've just zoomed in on your picture and now I see, I take it that's just an ordinary car fuse!
10amp.
Thanks again.