just a thought...

[lilgoth89]

for those running heng long I/R tanks...is there anything to stop me swapping the IR led for the one in the barrel ? and setting it further down inside ? like say half way up the barrel ?

for instance
OL......................................................................................................... _____
____________________________________________________________________________/...... \
_______________________________________________________________________ [ flash LED )
............................................................................................................\_____/

would be

new........................................................................................................_____
____________________________________________________________________________////\\\\
__________________________________________________________[ IR LED)__________..........|
............................................................................................................ \_____/
( oh yeah check out my art skills )
im thinking that it would reduce the 'shotgun' stlye of the IR beam, and would be very inexpensive to carry out
and you couldnt possibly get closer to the gun, it would also mean no drilling / tubes / etc would be needed at all...
and the flash LED could be wired to the current IR LED mount, so you would know when your shooting

[blimp]

I did this on my KV - I put the flash in front(* edit ; typo , I meant the I.R. ) , so the I.R. beams focus isn't deranged or masked . Taking care not to trap the front wires as there isn't a lot of room , the flash is reduced a little but still O.K.

• 

. . . .The I.R. - ( can be checked with a digital camera ). . .

. . . the flash L.E.D. had flats filed on It's sides to allow the front wires to pass by .( the block thingy is just a small battery from a disposable lighter used to test it ) - yes it is still visible mounted this far back

[lilgoth89]

wait you have BOTH LEDs in the same barrel ?? and the flash is in front of the IR

wouldnt it be better having the flash behind ? ( as in the IR LED, closer to the end of the barrel ?? )
what did you do to your hole in the mantle ?

now i just gotta build up the courage to pull my rather nice tanks to bits to move a single LED XD

[MichaelC]

So the flash is in the front, and the IR is all the way in the back and it still works ? I mean okay this is the KV so the gun barrel is not that long anyway but I am pleasantly surprised. I can certainly see having both the flash and the IR in the muzzle brake of the larger calibre guns (The openings in the muzzle brake would cause some spray issue but that can be fix by putting the LED in a tube). I will have to try this myself.

I guess the IR go straight thru the stock Heng Long flash. All my flash are the high intensity one so it might not be able to go thru as cleanly as just the LED but this is very good to know. Thank !

[Tankbear]

So the flash is in the front, and the IR is all the way in the back and it still works ? I mean okay this is the KV so the gun barrel is not that long anyway but I am pleasantly surprised. I can certainly see having both the flash and the IR in the muzzle brake of the larger calibre guns (The openings in the muzzle brake would cause some spray issue but that can be fix by putting the LED in a tube). I will have to try this myself.

I guess the IR go straight thru the stock Heng Long flash. All my flash are the high intensity one so it might not be able to go thru as cleanly as just the LED but this is very good to know. Thank !

Putting IR lamp behind LED flash works that is where it is hidden in the wsn T34 and I believe torro king tiger as well.

Not certain it will go through a high tension flash though as is totally different construction. I would also advise to use caution as the high voltage in the flash cables may jump into the IR circuit and cause damage to electronics.

Ian.

[MichaelC]

Ian, do you think it will jump from the high intensity to the IR cable ? Would that fry the IR emitter or the whole IR circuitry back to the MFU ? Thanks for the heads up. Certainly in my SU-152 and all the 88mm with muzzle brakes there is enough room to put in the IR emitter along side the high intensity flash. What if I double shield the cables ? Its just that this will solve all my problem. I just have to rip out the IR emitter, wire them up with extra long shielded wire and run them inside the barrel. It is the most elegant solution as far as I can tell.

[B.A.D.A.S.S.Force]

Actually, blimps post here was just a little confusing in how he presented his mod, as I can see how someone might read it & think the IR is behind the flash. He actually has it the much better way around in my opinion, IR LED up the barrel closer to the muzzle break, while the flash LED is more to the rear of the barrel & behind the IR LED. This way there is zero chance the flash LED will interfere with the IR LED signal.

His thread over on Hobby Havoc forums shows his entire KV-1 build, including this in the barrel IR LED/Flash LED combo.

Here is his original statement about the mod from that KV-1 thread:

• "The barrel will have the flash LED replaced by an IR one , the original flash LED bulb now goes into the REAR of the gun , it's sides filed down for the front bulbs wires to pass - voila ! I.R. and flash together . The microswitches need repositioning now , and I'll sort the wiring later . . . ."

This is the way I intend to do both my KV-1 & Panther tanks. It makes perfect sense to have the IR LED unobstructed, & probably within 9mm depth or so from the front of the muzzle break.

~ Craig ~

[blimp]

" .... I put the flash in front ..." DOH ! - Sorry guys , you're right of course ! No excuses there , I should have proofed it before posting ! . . . . I will flagelate myself immediately !

[Tankbear]

Adding extra insulation should help. Problem with high voltage is will go through non conductive material, I'm not certain what voltage the HL flash is but the cables used don't look any different to the rest of the tank so think that is the weak point.

As for what damage could occur is hard to tell but electronics generally operate at 5volt the flash will be over 1000+volts.

To be honest I'm probably making it sound worse case and you probably be ok.

Ian.

[B.A.D.A.S.S.Force]

" .... I put the flash in front ..." DOH ! - Sorry guys , you're right of course ! No excuses there , I should have proofed it before posting ! . . . . I will flagelate myself immediately !

No need for any flagellating here, simple mistake, & even though you first said you put the flash in front, I kind of caught your meaning because you then said, "so the I.R. beams focus isn't deranged or masked " ... which wouldn't really make sense after saying the flash LED is in front of it ... , that's why I dug up your thread over on HH to clarify it here!

Great work on that KV-1 by the way, it was my inspiration to doing the same IR/Flash combo in my tanks.

~ Craig ~