Virtual gears in RC tanks.

[Jussek]

hi Rad

i' did something similar in my 9Xr-pro. I've 'reverted' the THR stick to airplane mode, so ilde is full back stick, and from there to the 100% gas you need to move the stick from full down to full up, I've some curves too so it's not lineal.

for reverse the tank i have to 'put neutral' first, moving the stick full down to idle the engine, then flip a sw, and from there the same game as running forward, so moving the stick from down to up will run the tank backwards.

it may sound a bit confusing at first, but i got used very quickly to this way, and i like it.

Also i went a bit further. As the tanks have two speeds, i mean, they have max speed offroad, and max speed on road, i checked on the technical manuals these speeds for the tiger and for the KöTi, scaled them to 1/16 and limited the max speed of the vehicles in the TX mixer, and now i have another switch to select road speed or cross country speed.

best regards

[rochesb]

As a very recent convert to R/C tanks I can say I am a believer in programmable radios too...... I love the idea of open source projects having worked in IT all my life.

I have just 'turned on' my Taranis QX7 today for the first time, I am using an FRSky XM Plus receiver to interface with the Open Panzer board I bought to control the bog-standard King Tiger I am building from Taigen/Torro parts. The XM Plus is a 16 channel receiver & is incredibly small at 21.5mm x 12.3mm x 3.5mm and weighs under 2gm..... it will be lost inside my tank.

I cannot compete with the modelling & painting skills of so many members on this forum who produce fantastic results but I am quite happy tinkering with the electronics, software controls & features of running a tank so reading about what Rad has done in a thread like this fires me with enthusiasm.

The wiki on the Open Panzer website has some incredibly useful videos, so far I have successfully rewired the Taigen recoil & gun elevation module to work with the TCB & am busy making up a wiring harness for my ESC & motors.

[43rdRecceReg]

As a very recent convert to R/C tanks I can say I am a believer in programmable radios too...... I love the idea of open source projects having worked in IT all my life.

I have just 'turned on' my Taranis QX7 today for the first time, I am using an FRSky XM Plus receiver to interface with the Open Panzer board I bought to control the bog-standard King Tiger I am building from Taigen/Torro parts. The XM Plus is a 16 channel receiver & is incredibly small at 21.5mm x 12.3mm x 3.5mm and weighs under 2gm..... it will be lost inside my tank.

I cannot compete with the modelling & painting skills of so many members on this forum who produce fantastic results but I am quite happy tinkering with the electronics, software controls & features of running a tank so reading about what Rad has done in a thread like this fires me with enthusiasm.

The wiki on the Open Panzer website has some incredibly useful videos, so far I have successfully rewired the Taigen recoil & gun elevation module to work with the TCB & am busy making up a wiring harness for my ESC & motors.

Have to agree with you about the Open Panzer Wiki and, of course, the principle of the project in the first place. The videos are articulate, clear, and add extra depth and respectability to this slightly eccentric (to outsiders) hobby of ours..
I bought a breadboard recently, with bags of cables, fuses, switches, resistors and what not..just waiting for a blinding flash of inspiration- or maybe a blown LED. But efforts like this one (Open Panzer) are actually inspirational, and to be admired.

[Rad_Schuhart]

I was beginning to think that nobody had interest in the thread and specially in doing the same with their radios... But its great to see it interested at least a couple of guys

Jussek: I think we are doing basically the same in the gears, but with a difference in the speeds.

You have one maximum road speed and one maximum of road speed, which is cool! Please make a video of the tank driving at full cross country speed, it must crawl!

But my forward gear works a bit different. In my first speed the tank goes from lets say 0% throttle to roughly a 33%, in the second from 34% to 66% and the last speed from 67% to 100%. That means, like a car, when you are in the last gear you cannot drive slow, and the vehicle will go straight even whithout pushing the throttle.

At the beginning sounds a bit complicated and I had a few crashes... But It is also very easy to imediatelly stop the tank (Emergency brake) if needed. If I go full speed and suddenly some disgrace appears in front of my tank, If I move the gear switch to the idle position, the tank stops immediatelly.

Rochesb: You just bought one of the best radios out there. With that software you will be capable of doing wathever you want I discovered that receiver some weeks ago, it looks like some kind of wizzardy! OMG 16 channels in a nail!

I am messing with the open panzer board too

[Rad_Schuhart]

[color=#FF0000]I cannot insert the videos. Some help here? [/color]Admin help here?
EDIT 2: All the code inserted gives an error back... Like the line above.


Ok, I did two small videos, but this is one of those things that are cristal clear when you do it, and not so when you see it.

Im using a Tamiya King tiger in very early stages of painting (note the mufflers are still masked, lol)
From second 0 to 22, thats the maximum speed on first speed-
From second 31 to 39 thats the maximum speed on second speed
From 46 to the end, thats the maximum speed, but I messed the config a bit here. It means the tank can go a bit faster than that, which is way faster than the maximum scale speed.

https://youtu.be/OwtbsUvMdm4

In the second video... Just driving around. Not a lot to say but thanks to my wife for filming, and to my daughter for making her sounds, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2aeNk88GE8

And yeah, thats me! After the photo of our colleague SOAG in pants, I decided I can upload a photo of me too.
[attachment=0]gear.jpg[/attachment]

[rochesb]

I started my career in IT in the early 1970s & have worked with computers (Very big & small) all my working life (I retired in 2014). I still 'play' with computers (I have a home network) & have a number of computer related projects (CCTV server, Raspberry Pi media server) under way so Open Panzer was a logical choice for me. The approach taken by Rad in his tank modelling is inspirational for me.

I had always admired the Tamiya tank kits but was never in a position to justify the cost, so when I first read about the Open Panzer and Open Tx projects it was a revelation to me & I saw a way to combine my computer interests & tank modelling.

[Tiggr]

Also I must say I am enjoying the new controls A LOT. I really would LOVE to have somewhere to battle like the guys at the US with Danvile or the many tank meetings there in the UK, but I really dislike the way of the people batling. I mean, in most of the videos you can see king tigers jackrabitting front and backwards... To my eye it makes the battles too toylike and unrealistic... Whis this gear system the battle IMHO would be way more realistic.

Absolutely Rad.
No point in having fantastically realistic tanks that flit about at ridiculous speeds.......

[Estnische]

Rad, I think what is missing on this forum, maybe all RC tank forums, is a sticky page or wiki, on RC basics.

Look at this post by MBPanzer:

Hi all,

I first want to apologize for asking this question. I've searched this forum, and I'm sure the answers are here,
but I'm afraid being new to the electronic board names, numbers, I'm overwhelmed with info. My issue is that I have a Heng Long
Panzer III It's old. it has a TK-RX13 in it. I just want to get it upgraded to a 2.4 radio system. I've read here where, I cant use the HL
2.4 conversion kit without a lot of re soldering/wiring? I'd like to keep the conversion as simple as possible, although I realize that might not be the cheapest way. I'm at a loss as how to proceed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thank you,

Half the people on this forum have no idea how RC works, cannot trace faults, or understand the difference between Heng Long/Taigen MFUs and the after market boards. I know a little, because I bought an RC5HL and converted to a hobby grade radio. But I had to have it pre-programmed for me and don't understand TX programming.

But I am willing to learn and write about it, if the experienced RC guys would lend a hand?

[Rad_Schuhart]

Rad, I think what is missing on this forum, maybe all RC tank forums, is a sticky page or wiki, on RC basics.

Look at this post by MBPanzer:

Hi all,

I first want to apologize for asking this question. I've searched this forum, and I'm sure the answers are here,
but I'm afraid being new to the electronic board names, numbers, I'm overwhelmed with info. My issue is that I have a Heng Long
Panzer III It's old. it has a TK-RX13 in it. I just want to get it upgraded to a 2.4 radio system. I've read here where, I cant use the HL
2.4 conversion kit without a lot of re soldering/wiring? I'd like to keep the conversion as simple as possible, although I realize that might not be the cheapest way. I'm at a loss as how to proceed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thank you,

Half the people on this forum have no idea how RC works, cannot trace faults, or understand the difference between Heng Long/Taigen MFUs and the after market boards. I know a little, because I bought an RC5HL and converted to a hobby grade radio. But I had to have it pre-programmed for me and don't understand TX programming.

But I am willing to learn and write about it, if the experienced RC guys would lend a hand?

Funny you mention the RC5HL because that´s how I started in the hobby like 4 years ago and still have and use one of those boards. Before, I had absolutely no experience or knowledge in RC stuff. I was not even able to solder two wires together... So I had to read quite a lot here and there, gathering info from every corner on internet and then to experiment a lot, sometimes breaking stuff...

I guess the main problem of the people in tank forums, is just they dont really care about the tank functions. I I mean, people has unbelievable skills of painting, modelling and so on and make astonishing realistic looking pieces... And then I guess most of those pieces take place in a shelf and hardly ever moves from there. Or if it moves, it does but with very primitive functions. That explains the people that keeps sticking with Tamiya electronics and 4 channel with no programmable radios.

At the beginning I understand the use of them, and, for a beginner is the logic way to go. You cannot build a house starting at the roof, dont you? But after a while, at least in my case I had the need to keep adding more and more things... Changing the sounds, more machine guns, playing musics... And then I wanted and needed more, so I ended with a programmable radio.

It surprises me that there are some people with expensive and powerfull radio systems use them in the primitive way that Tamiya wants (moving digital trims for triggering basic functions!) and using the sticks for the extra functions leaving the big bunch of switches abandoned... I think those people could give it a try and to start thinkering how to use their radios in a more effective, logic and cool way.

I wish I could help everyone, but I am some kind of beginner too, and I also only know how to program my own radios (Radios that use er9x/ersky9x and I guess the ones that use opentx too) but the rules are exactly the same for all the radios, the only thing that changes is what to touch in your radio. If somebody has any question I will be more than happy to try help! Thats why I create most of my threads.

Regarding your sticky or wiki, yep, is not a bad idea, but it is also important to keep updating it. What is cool today will be discontinued and/or outdated tomorrow. There are things that I recommended one year ago that I would not recommend today.