IBU2 review.

[jackalope]

Mods if this is in the wrong section would you be so kind as to move it where it should go. Thank you.

I'm in the process of building my King Tiger and I realized the stock Taigen 2.4 electronics just weren't doing it for me so with the VERY patient help of Ian, Tankbear I'm trying out his IBU2 setup. First off I am a TOTAL newb who knows nothing when it comes to radio gear so I was very leery of even trying cause I didn't want to spend a bunch of money only to fry it. Ian took the time to answer all of my questions (so far! ) and has been a great help.

Now on to the IBU2. I don't battle cause as it turns out there seems to be no one with another tank for 50 miles and the only club I know of is 2 states away (about 150 to 200 miles) and thats a little more then I want to drive just to play tanks. (no offence meant ) So just the airsoft version for me but I'm having issues with the main guns timing, Ian once again has tried to help me but either I'm doing something wrong or the tank is. I've changed the recoil time from 500 (for the IR setup) to 1500, 1550, 1600, 1650, and 1700 but the guns cycling is off, is there any way to fix this? The gun will fire however its like it either starts to fire the next round or doesn't finish cycling the firing motor all the time so 3 out of 4 shots are fine but the 4th one does nothing. I've been messing with it for about an hour and figured it may be a good time to take a break before I get frustrated with it.

I also have been after a decent smoker since my first Super Smoker tried to burn a hole through the floor of my Tiger when it self destructed. The 2nd one wasn't much better with the fan not working then it wouldn't smoke with a Taigen 2.4 gig setup and on and on, so it went into the scrap box and I ordered 2 TARR mark II smokers. To be honest they were also a let down but I was told it may again be the Taigen board so I was also hoping the IBU2 would help out the TARR smoker and all I can say is BOY DID IT EVER! WOW it starts to put out smoke almost the moment you turn the smoker on which is controlled by the transmitter rather then a switch on the tank, a VERY big step up IMHO because now I can turn off the smoker once the smoke runs out so no more burned up tanks! Full throttle is something to behold! The smoke billows out of my King Tiger dual exhaust and proceeded to envelope me and my kitchen in a cloud of smoke!

The tank runs so smoothly now with the 4.1 gearboxes I have in it I'm really loving it! The steering is as close to perfect as I think it possible to get I wouldn't change a thing. Slow speed this thing creeps along at what has to be a scale 1-2 mph. Reverse is half the speed of forward which as I understand is what the real tank would have had so nailed it again.

I now also need to get a new speaker because the sound has improved DRAMATICLY over the stock sound, like night and day difference! I'm considering getting the upgraded sound card and using 2 speakers just cause if it sounds this good now I can only imagine what it'll sound like with 2 speakers and an amp running them!

The only downside to the IBU2 that I have found is its size, compared to the stock Taigen or H/L rx boards its much bigger which means I have to re-do the inside of my tank. Also it has this little box that is separate from the main board and then the antena is connected to that little box, neither of things are deal breakers as what you get FAR exceeds any issues trying to get it to fit.

All in all I'm very happy with both the IBU2 and Ian/Tankbear.

Now if anyone knows how I can get the main gun cycling in sync please let me know.

Oh once I get a tray built to mount it on and get the inside of my KT sorted I'll get some pics up.

[Tankbear]

Hi Jackalope,

The timings for the recoil/airsoft is in milliseconds, so the theory is power the airsoft (directly via battery, make sure disconnect all other electronics) time the time to take for it to do one full cycle. As you will struggle to accurate start stop the timer for 1 cycle run it for 10 cycles then divide the total time by 10. Then set the timing to match the measured.

That’s the easy part done. Next you need to prime the airsoft (or recoil) so it is in the correct position i.e. just before firing BB. To do this again directly connect to a battery (a flat battery might be better as motor is slower) and power the airsoft or recoil to just before the point of firing and then disconnect battery. This stage synchronizes the airsoft/recoil so fires at same time as the sounds, etc.

Ian.

[jackalope]

Having some trouble with the tank shutting off after maybe 2 minutes of run time with a fully smart charged battery so I'm going to be trying a dual battery set up as suggested by Tankbear.

Don't really want to have to go get lipos to run this thing seeing how I have 4 brand new 7.2 volt NIMH batteries and a brand new smart charger for them.


Gun timing will have to wait till the tank can make it across my yard and back again without shutting down.

[jackalope]

2 7.2 volt batteries and this thing runs like a champ! Now I just need to up the amps to the motors from the factory setting of 10 to I'm thinking the max of 15 amps should work well with my King Tiger being the thing weighs damn near 22lbs / 10kg! This thing is a beast!

I'm also ordering the amp set up for the sound system so it'll run 2 speakers, 1 for the engine sounds and 1 for the guns. Also the 2 speakers will help even the tank out internally as now it has 2 batteries in it. Now to get a couple speakers and build some mini ported boxes for them! The speakers will be under the engine grills and the ports will also fire upward to the grills so all the sound is directed through them.

Once I get the speakers boxes built and figure out how I want to lay out the inside of the tank I'll get some pics up but right now its a mess inside.


BTW does anyone else run this board? I see 70 views and the only one to reply has been Ian, I;d love to know what other people think of this if they have it and what set up they're running.

[spongehoobtank82]

Hey dude, I have a couple of IBU2's am really happy with both of them, one is running the TPA board which runs 2 visaton speaker, sounds really great and is really handy being able to adjust the engine/ sound effects separately, only problem I ever have is that when you fire the machine gun if you fire the main gun immediately after the is no cannon sound played or if you do it the other way round no MG noise, but its only if you do it right away and its no biggie really, other than that its perfect!