Torro 2.4GHz radio to replace HL RX18

[forgebear]

whats the likely hood of a rx18 going wrong on a new tank ? i have got myself a new battery as i thought that it was the battery that was the problem. i have the light come on the tank to say its got power. but will not start ar anything now.so my next step is thinking its the rx18 control gone wrong ? am i right in this please ?

try your cyrstals

[madmonk25]

whats the likely hood of a rx18 going wrong on a new tank ? i have got myself a new battery as i thought that it was the battery that was the problem. i have the light come on the tank to say its got power. but will not start ar anything now.so my next step is thinking its the rx18 control gone wrong ? am i right in this please ?

try your cyrstals

hi its all working now thanks. when i got it the charger that you first get with the tank.it was faulty.

[RCTanksAustralia]

Hi All

Just thought I needed to add to this post some new info. First up a big thanks to Steve at WDM who was kind enough to send me one of these Taigen units for testing. So in order to clarify on the points/issues I brought up previously....

First up you are looking at a no-frills 4 channel 2.4 gHz system here - there are no extra channels and it is unlikely that you will be able to find another brand of radio that will bind to the unit.

That unlabelled I/O appears now to be the interface for the micro controller (I could be wrong here yet again) but it is not r/c channel outs or ins.

Importantly it is NOT a RX18 it is a new design but very similar to the RX18.

The sound chip is similar to that on the RX18 - sound quality is the same though the samples may be different - still goes through the usual LM386 (or equivalent) amp

Speaker is nice and loud. I do like the new speaker a lot. Not a Visaton but in some cases you can't fit a visaton inside your tank anyway.

Gun sound is triggered when a physical connection is made between the two 'gun fire' pins. If you have older style Heng Long tanks with RX18 V6 and earlier boards you need to be aware of this.

Like the RX18 turret rotation and gun elevation are not proportional (on or off)

Yes there is smoke unit support with a switch

There is an additional output for reversing lights which is a very nice touch.

Now the critial bits:

In constrast to what I first thought the MAKO as currently delivered will not work with this unit. The reason for this is two fold firstly not being an RX18 the supply of power to the MAKO at startup isn't what the MAKO expects and hence loops over during the programming mode. This can be fixed by removing the programming period from the MAKO.

Secondly and MOST IMPORTANTLY the IR signal that the Taigen system uses is NOT the Heng Long signal, nor Tamiya, nor WSN. The Taigen Board uses it's own new IR signal. That means that the Taigens can ONLY battle other Taigen units. The signal it self is different to all other IR battle signals and is the shortest of them all lasting a mere 4-5 msec. In contrast the Tamiya signal blurts away on some units for over 500 msec. I can't say how such a short signal will fare as far as IR battle goes as it has some good points and some bad.

Ok with that knowledge I have been able to re-program the MAKO so that it will work with the new Taigen Board. So yes the MAKO can work with the new Taigen board however, it requires a Taigen programmed chip and not a Heng Long chip. Also once fitted with a MAKO the Taigen will then be able to battle Tamiya and Heng Long Tanks ONLY.

Once ready the MAKO for Taigen boards will be available in the UK from WDM.

I hope to do a more in depth review soon for those interested in a bit more on the tech side.

Cheers
Kevin G

[Tankbear]

Thanks for your time and input on this Kevin it will help a lot of people.

What does surprise me is the IR isn't compatible with any thing else currently on the market. As a RX18 replacement I expected it would work with HL as a minimum.

Ian

[strmnd54]

Thanks for your time and input on this Kevin it will help a lot of people.

What does surprise me is the IR isn't compatible with any thing else currently on the market. As a RX18 replacement I expected it would work with HL as a minimum.

Ian

At this point in time ; I wonder if this module is meant to be an RX-18 replacement ; and I sure hope not ....
Although the taigen shares some of the major flaws of the RX-18 , like the track recoil and the running sound ; it has very few similar electronic components ...
It would have been easier to use the RX-18 and stack up a 2.4Gz receiver on it ...

[RCTanksAustralia]

Hi All

Rather than start a new thread I think I'll just bang on here (plus I've bookmarked this page). Today I finally got around to doing something I've wanted to do in a while. I've run a bit of a distance test on the 2.4gHz setups I have. So the kids & I headed down to the nearby training centre to run the tanks down some straight stretch of bitumen.

We tested the new Taigen system and my RCtoHL & HK T6A radio combinaton in a pair of Heng Long PzIIIs along with a Turnigy RctoHL combo running a Walker Bulldog.

The results are as below:



All three systems had a range in excess of 150 metres. Ten times further than what I was reliabily getting with a HL system and internal aerial. Even though the Taigen system was the first to start experiencing drop outs this didn't start till around the 150 metre mark. At this distance the tank was a blip 150 m away. Unless you were using an onboard camera to control your tank having your tank that far away is not practical. Realistically, I'd say that 50 metres is probably a comfortable maximum radius for 1/16 tank operations. With that said the difference in range between the Taigen and HKT6A is for most applications of no consequence.

Footnote: The Walker Bulldog was fitted with Asiatam 3:1 gearboxes and was an absolute snail in comparison to the PzIIIs and their stock HL metal boxes. We gave up on the Bulldog after it passed the Taigen. Since the 9X is meant to fly aircraft there was nothing to indicate that it would not of reached the HKT6A range. But we waned to go home and watch Australia get beat by the poms and kiwis at the festival of the 5 rings

Cheers
Kevin G

[superguybrett]

Well i've just ordered one through WDM for my Torro King Tiger, and can''t wait.
I don't use ir system at all, and will be happy to have wiring nice and compact.

[FreakyDude]

one of these days some smart guy is going to build one of these controllers that actually has decent sound, 2.4 ghz radio, no track recoil with a system that supports both the airsoft and IR options. Everybody is going to buy one for each tank they own.
Really can it be that hard? I should have listened in school instead of wiring everybodies chair to the electrical console

[Tankbear]

one of these days some smart guy is going to build one of these controllers that actually has decent sound, 2.4 ghz radio, no track recoil with a system that supports both the airsoft and IR options. Everybody is going to buy one for each tank they own.
Really can it be that hard? I should have listened in school instead of wiring everybodies chair to the electrical console

Check out Clark models tk20 apart from needing seperate radio. No published prices but heard around £40 if it is as good as poeple say it should be nice kit for us all and hopefully force others prices to lower.

Ian

[FreakyDude]

From what I have seen the Clark only supports. 2 radio types, Futuba and jr. In addition it is either tam or hl compatible with regards to the it. I have not used it just read it on their sites. At 65 bucks I hope it does work but at the low cost something gets sacrificed.

one of these days some smart guy is going to build one of these controllers that actually has decent sound, 2.4 ghz radio, no track recoil with a system that supports both the airsoft and IR options. Everybody is going to buy one for each tank they own.
Really can it be that hard? I should have listened in school instead of wiring everybodies chair to the electrical console

Check out Clark models tk20 apart from needing seperate radio. No published prices but heard around £40 if it is as good as poeple say it should be nice kit for us all and hopefully force others prices to lower.

Ian