Completely and truly stumped. HELP!

[BarryC]

Hi Guys,

Working to install the Gun Barrel Stabilization (GBS) board from Clark in conjunction with the TK60G2 and I have hit a BIG Roadblock! The GBS must be mounted in the turret level with respect to the hull, that is the easy part. The kicker is that the connection between the GBS and the TK cannot exceed 80mm in length. I had planned on running the path through the existing slip ring but the wire length would be 4.5 – 5”.

So, to meet the 80mm requirement I must move the TK to the turret. That means running the Battery and the Motor leads into the turret. To maintain 360-degree turret rotation I must run those leads through a Slip Ring. A slip ring capable of carrying the “potential” current (10A) is 1.5” in Dia. and nearly 3” in length. The available Slip Ring only has the needed number of wires for the Battery and Motors (3 two wire circuits).

I "think" I can make room for the Slip Ring, I then must move the Receiver into the turret as well. I will then have to provide wire paths for the Turret Rotation Servo, Speaker and Lighting into the lower hull. I cannot use two slip rings so; I may have to either give up 360 rotation which kind of defeats the purpose of the GBS and the Main Gun Deck Lift feature. OH NO!

Hoping someone might have a thought.

TIA Barry

[Son of a gun-ner]

I've just spoken to my missus, and she's just corrected me.
Although you get a higher resistance with a longer cable with copper wire, you also get voltage drop. And to add the 50% extra length, you would need to use household copper cable.
The only way you could up the length in a thin wire is if you used gold speaker cable. Therefore, if you can change the wires in the slip ring to gold, you could get away with a longer cable.
She used to work on computer controlled fire systems for oil rigs many years ago.

Edit. I deleted my prior post as I got half of it wrong.

[BarryC]

Yep!

Apparently the GBS signal output is "small" and the added length will cause enough signal loss to prevent the output from being picked up by the TK.

Barry

[Jimster]

I mounted the TK board and battery both in the turret. Not a big assed inefficient factory supplied heng long style battery but a 2 cell Lithium ion battery pack. Much smaller and longer lasting plus it allows the necessary room in the turret. Makes life much easier.

[BarryC]

I'm running a 3 cell Lipo.

I have found a 12 wire 5A Slip Ring but not sure 5A will handle motor current but I think battery would be OK. Still not enough circuits to take advantage of TKs functions mainly LEDs like Head and Taillights.

Barry

[Jimster]

Here’s the bad boy I got for my Leopard 2A7+


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[Son of a gun-ner]

Silly question, but can't you bind two boards to a TX?

One inside the turret and one inside the main body. And no need for a slip ring. Also a smaller two cell would be enough for turret use. And both boards would only have their designated connections.

I'll shut up and go away now. . . . Good luck.

[Jimster]

I’ve got a better idea, Barry. PM your shipping address to me and I’ll ship you a Taigen metal Leopard 2A7+ with a new uninstalled TK-80G2 board with a 10 channel receiver. GBS is already mounted. Includes a remote weapon station I already installed. I’ll even include a FS-i6S radio with batteries and unopened Bundeswehr tanker figures. Clark servo recoil and elevation. Gun flash installed. All you need to do is hook things up get it working. If you get things going to your satisfaction, send me however much you think it’s worth to you.
I’ve lost all interest in modern tanks and it’s in my way. It’s getting dusty and needs some love.

[tankme]

I’ve got a better idea, Barry. PM your shipping address to me and I’ll ship you a Taigen metal Leopard 2A7+ with a new uninstalled TK-80G2 board with a 10 channel receiver. GBS is already mounted. Includes a remote weapon station I already installed. I’ll even include a FS-i6S radio with batteries and unopened Bundeswehr tanker figures. Clark servo recoil and elevation. Gun flash installed. All you need to do is hook things up get it working. If you get things going to your satisfaction, send me however much you think it’s worth to you. I’ve lost all interest in modern tanks and it’s in my way. It’s getting dusty and needs some love.

Damn, that is quite the deal. I can relate as my Abrams project has been running a great many years now. It's part of the reason the ZTZ is coming together so fast is I wanted a break with a down and dirty simple build. For me it's the painting and weathering I fear. The electronics and mechanical parts comes fairly easy to me.

Silly question, but can't you bind two boards to a TX?
One inside the turret and one inside the main body. And no need for a slip ring. Also a smaller two cell would be enough for turret use. And both boards would only have their designated connections.
I'll shut up and go away now. . . . Good luck.

Yes, you can bind more than one RX to the same TX as you want. Some of the guys would do that in the RC Tank Combat tanks. The secondary RX would need it's own power source though. You could hook it up to a AA battery pack or a small rechargeable pack. Or as another option you could use a slip ring to get power to the secondary RX in the turret from the main battery and regulate it down to 6V with a BEC. There are tons of possibilities. The do make some slip rings with a couple of beefer leads mixed in with the smaller circuits like this one: https://www.rctanklegion.com/products/s ... 2-wires-2a That one is expensive though.

[abramsky]

Hello guys
Feel free if somebody can correct me if i'm wrong, but Clark MFU should can work with external ESC of gerbox motors. In that case, only small signal is sent from the Clark MFU to control the external ESC motors. Such a signal should withstand a slip ring without of any problems. My suggestion is that you put the Clark TK60G2 in the tower along with the GBS and connect it with separate power supply (small 2s battery). Send the signal to the ESC through the slip ring to the lower hull, where you will mount 2 ESCs driving the gearbox, from 3s the main battery. You just have to remember not to connect the ground or VCC of the upper 2s battery with the lower one at any point ( they must have independent power supply cuircuit ). But not sure what with VCC and Ground from Clark to the ESC in the lower hull ( Is it not enough to just put the signal path from Clark MFU to the ESC without VCC and ground ).
Can someone confirm that I am right?
Ps. Barry. You have built a great detailed Abrams. I read the whole thread with your build. I wish you to run this beast as soon as possible. Good luck