IR battle systems, how do they work?

[bikerdude]

Hi wasn't sure where to put this as it's not strictly about tanks, but at the same time is to do with the workings of them. Anyway I'm looking for info on the IR battle systems available for tanks, but I, and a few members of my club, want to fit them to model boats to have battles. I like the look of the tamiya battle system, as I like the idea of having different settings, and the way it drops the power after 1 hit etc. But I'm not sure if you can use just the battle system or do you need other tamiya bits to connect it all to? Or are there any other systems out there that could easily be fitted to a model boat?

Ideally I'm looking for something that would allow us to fit out the boat as normal, ie. direct drive motor, with a single speed controller and a servo for rudder steering. Then simply fit the IR into the boat? Or would I need a tank control board, and so have tank steering with twin props?

Any help is appreciated, or even better if theres someone local (northamptonshire area) who could spare me some time to explain/show me how it all works, and I could bring 1 of the proposed hulls to see if it could all fit?


Thanks.

[Tankbear]

Hi bikerdude

There are quite IR systems out there but have different operating systems and therefore not all compactable with each other.

As you mentioned Tamiya that is seen by most clubs around the world as the standard to try match. Therefore Tamiya, DBC, Clark, IBU systems are all fully to the standard.

I'm not certain how it will work with ships as the IR range is about 30m max.

Ian.

[bikerdude]

Hi thanks for your reply.

The range shouldn't be an issue as we'd section off part of the lake, which is 80mx30m so could just use the full width and mark approx 30m of the length.

Do you have any links to the other makes of IR systems you mentioned? And when you they are 'all fully to the standard', do you mean they are compatible with eachother?

Also do you know about the wiring of the units? Would we be able to use a standard boat motor, RX, servo and speed controller setup, and just add the IR emitter and receiver? Or would we need some extra bits aswell? Thanks.

[Tankbear]

Hi bikerdude.

Sorry for the short reply I'm aware at moment so using phone so cannot post links.

Yes the Tamiya, DBC, Clark, IBU will all work with each other.

I think connection to your Rc ships the DBC system is possibly best bet. As this you can link to your servo ports in the ships receiver and should allow firing and taking hits although I can't think of a way it could reduce the engine power with damaged received. It does how ever have output triggers for when hit and destroyed so maybe could add some lights or something to look like fire on the ship.

All the other systems I mentioned have the IR integrated into the drive control so unless you want to change all your ships controls these are probably out of the equation.

Ian.

[wibblywobbly]

Perhaps a brief explanation of what the systems do might help you come to a decision.

If we put the drive systems to one side for the moment, the IR is what you are most interested in. All of the following systems use the same IR frequency, and will therefore allow you to fit an IR emitter, and an IR apple (or receiver). The emitter sends an invisible burst of IR light at 940mhz. The receivers are matched, so they will detect an IR beam in this frequency. The only system that does not match this 'standard' is the standard Heng Long which operate on a lower frequency.

However, as far as ships go, you also need a drive system for the motors.

If you wish to be able to fire at another vessel, and have the power reduced to the motors when it is hit, you would need to power the ship motors from the tank system board.

There are quite a few boat people out there who do this already, the reason being that the built in track control is ideal for a boat as no mixers are required for twin props. The esc's on a tank board will power a boat, as tank boards will happily run anything up to 540 motors, and most will also run 12v, thought tanks use 7.2v.

The only problem I can see is that the power to the motors is reduced to almost nothing after 4 hits, which may cause problems if your ship is in the middle of the lake when this happens. Though once it is finally dead, the ship will automatically come back to full power after a wait of around 10-15 secs.

As to which board you go for would depend on budget and space available. I would also add that one board type may be better suited than the others. The IBU2 has programmable sounds, so you could load ship sounds onto it. The Elmod board is the same. Elmod also do a ship control board.

Bargain basement one to go for if you want to see whether the idea is feasible is the Clark board, though you would be stuck with tank engine sounds as it isn't programmable in that respect.

Even cheaper, if you want to test whether the tank boards will run the ship motors is the humble Heng Long RX18. They are around £15, and if the motors don't blow this board they should work just fine on any of the others.

There is a list of every manufacturer, links to their websites and product comparisons on

http://www.hitenter.co.uk

if this helps.

Rob

[Tankbear]

Thanks Rob.

I did forget the ElMod but good point about the programmable sounds.

Ian.

[bikerdude]

Many thanks, they were just the sort of replies I was hoping for. The programmable noise wouldn't really matter as I can't imagine you'd really hear the sounds when the boats are out in the middle of the lake, especially as theres a go-cart track just behind the lake so theres always noise from that. Having had a look I think maybe the El-mod is the way forward, seems quite straight forward, though it is a bit pricier than I was hoping, having to use a tanks control board.

I hope you don't mid, but I've got a few more questions...

What exactly would the main control board actually control? Is it just speed and steering or does it include the control for turret movement and lights etc?

Secondly, does it have the receiver built in? Or can we all use our existing radios, a mix of spectrum dx's, futaba's and planet T5's?

Thanks again.

[Tankbear]

Hi Bikerdude

The main control board controls everything. Although with the ElMod the sound card is separate and plugs into the control board. But generally all makes control boards control everything, track drive, turret, elevation, firing, flash, lights, etc. And no apart from the Taigen system none of these systems have a built in receiver and are designed to have like you say any of your existing radio receiver plugged in.

Ian.