Heng Long control board for IR battle system.

[Sqwheezle]

Hi
I have the chance to buy a secondhand Taigen Panther IV, the BB version which doesn’t have any IR battle system. I currently have three Heng Long tanks - Tiger I, Panther G and a T34 85, all with IR. I understand that I would have to swap the control board in the Taigen and get a Heng Long Control Unit. I’m completely new to this so I need some help and advice. Can somebody recommend an appropriate control board and an appropriate supplier in the UK? Also, as I have very little electronics experience, how difficult would this be? Would I be biting off more than I can chew?

Many thanks

Ancient Partisan

[tankme]

They actually make a converter board for the Torro/Taigen tanks so that they can battle with the Heng Long/Tamiya tanks. I have one installed in my Sturmtiger. Ignore the comment in the middle of the two pics. I pulled the pic from an old post of mine. You would have to wire a port for the "apple" on top of the tank and add an IR LED.

Screenshot 2025-10-10 051738.png (600.42 KiB) Viewed 241 times

[Jib]

They actually make a converter board for the Torro/Taigen tanks so that they can battle with the Heng Long/Tamiya tanks. I have one installed in my Sturmtiger. Ignore the comment in the middle of the two pics. I pulled the pic from an old post of mine. You would have to wire a port for the "apple" on top of the tank and add an IR LED.


Screenshot 2025-10-10 051738.png

I was going to bring this up.

I brought it up before to someone and they made it sound like there was something difficult involved in installing it? Like soldering or maybe wire magic? Is that the case or is this just plug and play? Does the kit come with an emitter and an applet or do those need to be separately?

Also, to the poster, the Taigen V3 MFU in your tank is set up to run either airsoft or IR, so you don’t need a new MFU to do this.

Depending on what the kit comes with you may need to purchase a Taigen/Torro IR battle kit. I’m assuming that this is a thing that exists. You may need to get on rctank.de or Torro.de and see if they sell them separately as spare parts. The hardest thing to find would probably be the base that the IR receiver (the applet) plugs into.

[tankme]

They actually make a converter board for the Torro/Taigen tanks so that they can battle with the Heng Long/Tamiya tanks. I have one installed in my Sturmtiger. Ignore the comment in the middle of the two pics. I pulled the pic from an old post of mine. You would have to wire a port for the "apple" on top of the tank and add an IR LED.


Screenshot 2025-10-10 051738.png

I was going to bring this up.

I brought it up before to someone and they made it sound like there was something difficult involved in installing it? Like soldering or maybe wire magic? Is that the case or is this just plug and play? Does the kit come with an emitter and an applet or do those need to be separately?

Also, to the poster, the Taigen V3 MFU in your tank is set up to run either airsoft or IR, so you don’t need a new MFU to do this.

Depending on what the kit comes with you may need to purchase a Taigen/Torro IR battle kit. I’m assuming that this is a thing that exists. You may need to get on rctank.de or Torro.de and see if they sell them separately as spare parts. The hardest thing to find would probably be the base that the IR receiver (the applet) plugs into.

Nope not difficult to install the Torro IR converter as it does come with the "apple". It's a simple matter of plugging the IR converter into MFU shown in the pic I provided in the previous post. What would need to be wired is the IR LED and the connector the apple plugs into on the top of the tank as it wouldn't be wired for BB tank. I would assume the hole is there to mount the apple, but just no connector in it. You would need to provide your own connector or solder wires directly to the apple. The apple uses 3 of the 5 pins. The other two pins are for the IR LED emitter. No emitter is included with the kit. If your tank is already an IR version, it's a matter of unplugging the existing 5 pin connector on the MFU, plugging the 5 pin connector from the MFU into the top port, plugging the gray 5 pin provided with the kit into the MFU, and plugging the gray 5-pin connector into the bottom port of the converter. I also provided a pic of mine installed. See wiring diagram I put together below to equip a tank not wired for IR.

smaller.png (1.69 MiB) Viewed 191 times

Converter wiring.png (700.95 KiB) Viewed 193 times

[Jib]

Yeah that seems easy enough, hardest part will be getting a hold of the applet base/connector and the emitter. Maybe they have them for sale on Torro’s website.

I was going to ask if you wired it through a slip ring, but I see that’s a casemate tank in the picture. I’ve heard of people sometimes getting false hits on their tank sometimes when their applet wiring was run through a slip ring.

[tankme]

Yeah that seems easy enough, hardest part will be getting a hold of the applet base/connector and the emitter. Maybe they have them for sale on Torro’s website.

I was going to ask if you wired it through a slip ring, but I see that’s a casemate tank in the picture. I’ve heard of people sometimes getting false hits on their tank sometimes when their applet wiring was run through a slip ring.

I've never done slip rings because I do battle my tanks. I had also heard that the rings can produce electrical noise so I've never done it. It was the inside of my Sturmtiger so you are correct that it is a casemate tank. As far as the connector goes, you could use a Dupont (servo type) or a 3 pin JST 2.54 connector.

There is one person over on Hobby Squawk that used a LegoDEI receiver instead of the Torro one, but that wiring would be a little more complicated as that uses a 5 pin JST connector and has LEDs in the apple. Those apple LEDs would need a different feed from the MFU to be powered up.

[forgebear]

Yeah that seems easy enough, hardest part will be getting a hold of the applet base/connector and the emitter. Maybe they have them for sale on Torro’s website.

I was going to ask if you wired it through a slip ring, but I see that’s a casemate tank in the picture. I’ve heard of people sometimes getting false hits on their tank sometimes when their applet wiring was run through a slip ring.

this might help
https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/p7 ... itter.html

[Jib]

Hi
I have the chance to buy a secondhand Taigen Panther IV, the BB version which doesn’t have any IR battle system. I currently have three Heng Long tanks - Tiger I, Panther G and a T34 85, all with IR. I understand that I would have to swap the control board in the Taigen and get a Heng Long Control Unit. I’m completely new to this so I need some help and advice. Can somebody recommend an appropriate control board and an appropriate supplier in the UK? Also, as I have very little electronics experience, how difficult would this be? Would I be biting off more than I can chew?

Many thanks

Ancient Partisan

Well there you go, everything you’ll need to complete this project should be in this thread now

[tankme]

Yeah that seems easy enough, hardest part will be getting a hold of the applet base/connector and the emitter. Maybe they have them for sale on Torro’s website.

I was going to ask if you wired it through a slip ring, but I see that’s a casemate tank in the picture. I’ve heard of people sometimes getting false hits on their tank sometimes when their applet wiring was run through a slip ring.

this might help
https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/p7 ... itter.html

Dave to the rescue to make the conversion plug and play.