Why has my RX18 just died??

[STEINER]

I'm running an RX 18 in my HL Tiger. The Tank is like yours wibbly very, very heavy. Lots of metal. After being to the school of hard knocks ( blown RX  13 & 14 boards )  the costs soon mount up  .

When I fitted the RX 18, I also fitted 3 in-line fuse holders. One each between the motors and the board ( 3 amp quick blow fuses ) and the third between the battery and the board ( 5 amp quick blow fuse )  No more blown boards. A couple of blown fuses here and there, ( After some deliberate hard driving ) but these are pennies/ cents compared to replacing £20 boards.

Cheers

STEINER

[wibblywobbly]

It's not in the Tiger, its in a Jagdpanther, the one that came with the tank. It has metal wheels and tracks. It was running fine just as it always has, I simply turned it off, did some work on the tracks/sprockets, turned it back on and ...dead.

I have just spent this evening first of all swapping the board for an RX14, and that was ok, so at least the tank wiring is ok.

I then re-installed the RX18, and resoldered every pin on the board, interestingly most of the functions are there, power is on the board and I have checked it with a multimeter, but as to why the tank won't go into boot up mode is anyone's guess. Probably a break in the pcb, or a faulty component somewhere at the start of the circuit. The functions eg fire/recoil can be performed by bridging contacts. Even the lights came on at one point, but I couldn't make it happen again??

I am resigned to buying a new board, I just like to know what is wrong with things that break. The inline fuses sound like a good idea, I might try that when I get the new one.

[STEINER]

Wibbly, fit the in-line fuse holders and you wont regret it, no more burned out boards.

Cheers

STEINER

[Tankie]

Wibbly, depending how good you are with a soldering iron you still have the makings of one working board.  If you remove the FET daughter board from both & re-solder the FET daughterboard from the Jagd into the main board with blown FETS you should have a runner.  I've successfully done this myself, but it isn't easy.

[wibblywobbly]

Hmmm, but that is assuming that the FET board is at fault. If I take it off the RX14 and put it in the RX18, then I stand an excellent chance of wrecking the working RX14. Well, it's not exactly 'working', I threw it in my spares box as the turret motor circuit went AWOL due to a loose wire shorting out, but its ideal for the Jag as it doesn't have a turret. I can never seem to get a solder sucker to work???

What I did do today was solder a spare 3 pin socket onto the RX14, so that I can simply plug the volume control in. Just soldered three cut-off suppressor legs into the holes, bent them to the pins on the back of the socket and dabbed them with solder. Job done.

[fv432]

the 14 fet boards are different to the 18s and i doubt the 2 are swappable

[wibblywobbly]

It doesn't look like the FETS are blown, there isn't a blemish on the board and I have been over every mm with a magnifying glass.

[Saxondog]

I went over my malfunctioning RX-18 with a magnifying glass also,nothing wrong or burnt,or loose but it does not work.To be more exact no barrel up or down,no smoker no volume,but the lights blink,and the tank will drive.I have replaced with a modified RX-18 with dual fans.Also wanted to let you know I'M running the GRUAPNER SPEED 400,not the RACE 480 per your suggestion a few months back,testing begins in about two hours as I just finished the wiring and am charging the batteries.So the RX-18 can be a mystery at times.Sax

[Wight]

In all honesty it's probably just cheap components.I've seen things like this before with cheap rc car radio equipment.Whereas my futaba,acoms and ko propo gear works fine every time.
My rx18 loses backwards drive to the right motor if I disconnect it all and reconnect it.But if I then hold the stick back and to the left it slowly starts to turn until I get full motion again.This will then work ok until I unplug it all again.I can't find any bad connections or solder,and if I take out each plug one at a time and then replace it before moving on to the next it does not do it.Only when all are removed at the same time.
Strange but true.

Steve.

[STEINER]

The fundamental difference between the HL and Tamiya electronics, is the quality of Tamiya units. Unfortunately, the downside of this, as we all know is the price.