Clark TK22

[silversurfer1947]

I have purchased a Clark TK22 board for my WSN/Torro T34. I have probably not been looking in the right place, but I am unable to find its operating voltage. The tank, like most Torro I think, operates of 9.6 volts as opposed to the 7.2v for HL and Tamiya. Will this voltage kill the board? If I do have to fit a 7.2 volt battery, what effect will this have on the motors?

[Tankbear]

I've heard people having issues with 7.4v lipo batteries so at 9.6v you probably damage it.

[jarndice]

Richard Hi,
As Ian says there have been reports of plus 7.4 LI-POs damaging CLARK Boards,
The suggested solution is to initialise the board using a fully charged NIMH or NICD Battery which appears to "Harden" the board which will then accept the higher output LI-PO Battery's,
And no I havn't tried it.
Shaun.

[Tankbear]

Also the tank will run on 7.2v although a little slower.

[silversurfer1947]

It sounds like the safest option is to replace the battery. Unfortunately this will involve some major surgery I think. The battery box is square and a normal battery will not fit.

[Tankbear]

Yeah cut battery box out, it’s what I did with mine and it leaves a decent amount of room in side for battery and parts.

[jarndice]

Richard Before you do anything drastic with your battery box you might want to view -----
www.componentshop.co.uk
They have an almost infinite range of NI-MH,/NI-CD,/ and LI-PO batteries of all sizes and voltages AND if they don't have on sale your size of battery contact them and they will build you one,
Shaun.

[tao]

Or just wire in a little and inexpensive voltage regulator to step up or down voltage?

This one just steps up:

[tao]

I thought Torro/Taigen/HL all run with 7.2 volt batteries??

[MichaelC]

Torro M16 Half tracks runs on 9.6v, as well as the rebrand WSN (now Torro) which is what this one is.

I am running the Torro M16 on a 7.4 lipo with no problem or loss of performance as far as I can see, but that's more of a toy RC variety.

On the subject of freshly charged lipo on Clark boards, I might be the first one to bring it up with Clark himself, as I blown couple of vol-reg on the Clark board with freshly charged lipos. The problem is that freshly charge lipos can go up over 8v, and Clark's spec is really 7.2v/7.4v.