Aurdino Mega TCB

[whitecitadel]

Thanks for the SBUS tips, but I plan to add inverted input so any SBUS receiver can be used.

I understand its just a simple inversion, the last project I just completed was this lighting controller for my crawler:
https://github.com/laneboysrc/rc-light-controller

The project owner Wener just updated that board earlier in the year to add another transistor and support SBUS so I was familair with it being a simple circuit (I am not in any way an electronics expert, but I can "dabble" where others have already been).

I see the OP setup is pretty simple/similair:

OP SBUS Circuit

SBUS.png (76.55 KiB) Viewed 4329 times

So I would be looking to do something like this but with surface mount like BC337 I think is OK, the light controller tested my limits of eyesight and co-ordination, fortuantly I have a friend who is an electronics whizz who has built a hot plate with temprature control I could use, and when combined with JLPCB mask the reflow went OK - but I am not in a hurry to repeat a project with surface mount!

About the serial motor output, do many people use that? Here in UK even the 5A is £55 or more, if you went Deluxe with 2* Hobbywing 1060 they are £20 each so £40 total. The Sabertooth I guess makes sense in a small tank but I am rebuilding a HL Tiger 1 and it seems there is plenty of space inside for ESC and a TCB board of some find (using Taigen chassis, so no large HL battery box to deal with).

I ordered one of the 2*40A (or so it claims) "dual" ESC from China yesterday so that should turn up in a few weeks, but I am not sure how "smooth" the ESC will be for low speeds, I figured its so small I could use it for turrent rotate and elevation if I keep the motor arrangement already in the tank. I am a relativly new forum member, but I understand the tanks tend to pile up after the first so I am sure another project will come along that needs the dual ESC if it doesn't end up in this one...

[Captain Morgan]

When designing my version of TCB, I made control signal outputs on the board that go to the L298 chip in order to connect the VNH2SP30 driver (more precisely, its clone with Ali), for use as tank movement motor drivers.



However, I have not yet tested how it works.
But I have information that the dual version of these boards works very poorly and there are a lot of defective ones.



P.S. This is how I implemented the changes in my scheme:

[whitecitadel]

Well busy day in the post room here, went from zero Arduino to double Arduino.

Mega Delivery

I was thinking I can't do much until I get some components, as my spare/testing receiver was SBUS but a quick look in the RadioLink manual over breakfast shows it supports PPM or SBUS, so hooked that up for a test.

Test Setup

testing_1024.JPG (99.78 KiB) Viewed 4307 times

Everything work's great with OP Config, I only have a 6 channel pistol grip RC at the moment as this is what I am using for car/crawler but I was able to read radio (it didn't like Channel 6, but once manually entered worked fine).

This was all very cool (for a self aware super-nerd at least ) so as I spent some time last night staring at Luke's TCB_Pinout-1 file from the OP forum, the AT Mega pin out, the various drawings/designs like Baldrick's I thought I would check some theory with practical tests. My iSDT battery monitor has a receiver check mode but I have never used it, so a bit of fiddling and I was able to then see the "TCB" PWM output, checked I had right pins for drive motors first then tried Servo 5 (Pin 25) for the recoil and you can see the servo movement when triggering the canon to fast move then slowly return to position which was very cool.

PWM test, Recoil looks good!

testing_pwm_recoil_1024.JPG (66.79 KiB) Viewed 4307 times

I have no knowledge of easyEDA but I started to experiment anyway... Baldrick's shield is 4 layer, which makes the PCB more expensive than I am used to so I am planning to work towards a simple shield that will bring out the servo's, LED for headlights and machine gun etc then use external ESC.

[john1970]

This might seem a silly question but with Hobby king messing up production of the board and people having to make their own would it not be possible to use the adafruit motor shield plugged into the top of the mega to drive some motors and servos?

[Sub]

Hi whitecitadel,
Glad you got started ok.
You now have a multitude of functions and adjustments all at you fingertips, once you work your way around all the settings i am sure you will be impressed.
I am still amazed at all the functions and settings and adjustments available via the OP config, in my humble opinion it is vastly unused, i have just completed a halftrack and the adjustments available are just awesome for that kind of vehicle with proportional track to steering imput etc.
I am quite sure you will be VERY happy with your efforts I know i am.
Regards and welcome to the world of Open Panzer.
Sub.

[baldrick131]

Nice to see some posts on this thread and by what appears to be more technically minded folk than me.
To give everyone an idea as to why I did this project here is what it looks like in a taigen panzer 3 chassis.

As you can see my set up meant space is limited so I knew the small board was my only option and the 2 ESCs enabled me to put them between the gear boxes.
Heres a link to my build to see exactly how much wire and bits can fit in a tank
viewtopic.php?f=207&t=33224

[Captain Morgan]

Here's what my version of the board looks like:





I've taken my own version - because HobbyKing no longer sells. I had to assimilate a lot of knowledge.

[baldrick131]

Those look Fantastic

[Captain Morgan]

If suddenly anyone is interested in the scheme, then it is located

True, I cannot vouch that I did everything perfectly, I have no education in the field of electronics.

[baldrick131]

I wouldn't worry to much I have no clue how any of the components work I'm just grateful that there are people who do know what they are doing are willing to share all the information needed by us to build these things.