RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

This flash unit from Taigen/Heng Long retails for around £12.. This Tamiya unit for most of its models has a RRP of £55.. As this is absolutely the last part I need for my project, and not wishing to fork out £55 on a slimline cable sporting a flash bulb, and not much more than a wee capacitor (max?) for storing the charge........I wonder whether the HL unit could be adapted to work with a Tamiya setup? I see that the Open Panzer TCB can be used with the DMD T-03 esc, and that the HL Flash unit can be adapted to work with the TCB. That, then, looks like one way forward. Any ideas?
You have to applaud the Japanese, though, for making such a slimline product..

If you need one Roy I have some knocking about for a much more reasonable price

tomhugill wrote:If you need one Roy I have some knocking about for a much more reasonable price

Hey, that could be great, Tom. I think I'm right in saying they're all about the same length (except the Sherman), aren't they? I'm constantly amazed by the way at your Tamiya Emporium of parts. But then, you've had the addiction far longer than I have
Hold on to it for me, can you. My car is due a service and MOT tomorrow, and that could gobble up a large chunk of my pension(s); but if the bill's not to immense, I'll probably be able to buy it soon. Cheers!
Roy.

After mooching around on the 'net, I've seen various discussions on the usability of Taigen and Tamiya with a variety of control boards. I see that Luke of Open Panzer stated here that Tamiya electronic units are pretty much Plug 'n' play with his TCB:
"...
The TCB is plug-and-play compatible with Tamiya turret motors, recoil units and IR equipment. Taigen recoil, Airsoft and flash units can be made to work with very minor re-wiring, and we have video instructions for each of them. Taigen smokers are plug and play. Additionally the TCB can control up to 5 servos and 5 lights. .."
That was from this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=81&t=21920&start=0
A question, then. By 'IR equipment", I assume that the Tamiya Flash unit is included? If so, the TCB becomes ever more appealing as constituent part of an electronic heart transplant into a Tamiya tank. Here's evidence that he got the cheapo Taigen unit to work with it...as another potential route:

That's why I thought that if i couldn't get the Tamiya flash unit, I'd still be able to use the Taigen/HL one- if I opted to put the TCB board in my Tamiya Pz IV...
Anybody got any thoughts on this option?

Tbh Roy I'd just go high intensity led. My issue in the past is most aftermarket boards can do taigen/HL but not tamiya flash, which is a shame as they're better made and I like the orange! I think ir equipment means tamiya 5 pin plug and ir led.

tomhugill wrote:Tbh Roy I'd just go high intensity led. My issue in the past is most aftermarket boards can do taigen/HL but not tamiya flash, which is a shame as they're better made and I like the orange! I think ir equipment means tamiya 5 pin plug and ir led.

Hmmm, pause for thought there, then. Thanks, Tom. However one looks at it, there's no getting around a Tamiya project with cost-cutting measures or alternatives. I really wish I could lay my hands on their electronic schematics. Knowing which voltages appear at which connectors, their polarities, diode paths and resistor values would also make life so much easier. It's a pity their circuit diagrams didn't get onto Wikileaks
I'm still interested in the flash, though; so please hand onto it!
Did you use some form of high intensity LED in the Cromwell barrel, i wonder? I found that the metal barrel was too tight a fit for the Taigen unit. My solution will be to have the LED flash by the breech, and have the light pass up the barrel via a strip of fibre optic cable. I bought a metre of that, and it's great stuff.

Hey Roy, I think I used a 3mm led no way a xenon flash would get down there

43rdRecceReg wrote:This flash unit from Taigen/Heng Long retails for around £12..

Taigen HL high intensity flash unit.jpg

This Tamiya unit for most of its models has a RRP of £55..

Tamiya flash unit.jpg

As this is absolutely the last part I need for my project, and not wishing to fork out £55 on a slimline cable sporting a flash bulb, and not much more than a wee capacitor (max?) for storing the charge........I wonder whether the HL unit could be adapted to work with a Tamiya setup?

My understanding of the Tamiya high intensity flash is that it receives its high voltage (I think I remember reading something about 300V?) from the MFU, whereas the H/L offering has its own high voltage supply safely contained externally. That's why the Tamiya's not compatible with anything, and why it's so much smaller; it doesn't actually contain the necessary electronics. You wouldn't be able to get the Heng Long flash to work with the Tamiya MFU unless you cut it apart and rewired it to the MFU's high voltage power supply, which is not a safe proposition at all.

43rdRecceReg wrote:I see that the Open Panzer TCB can be used with the DMD T-03 esc, and that the HL Flash unit can be adapted to work with the TCB. That, then, looks like one way forward. Any ideas?

If you're using the TCB instead of the Tamiya MFU, there's no reason to use the DMD unless you've already got one spare and can't flog it off on anyone else. It wouldn't make the tank perform any better than a cheaper ESC, and the TCB's going to do all the heavy lifting. If you're already building a hybrid piecemeal, there's no particular need to stick with Tamiya's (needlessly expensive) proprietary gear; cheaper, more flexible options are available to you. Then spend the money you save on the Tamiya bits that are worth it like suspension and sprues.

Raminator wrote:

43rdRecceReg wrote:This flash unit from Taigen/Heng Long retails for around £12..

Taigen HL high intensity flash unit.jpg

This Tamiya unit for most of its models has a RRP of £55..

Tamiya flash unit.jpg

As this is absolutely the last part I need for my project, and not wishing to fork out £55 on a slimline cable sporting a flash bulb, and not much more than a wee capacitor (max?) for storing the charge........I wonder whether the HL unit could be adapted to work with a Tamiya setup?

My understanding of the Tamiya high intensity flash is that it receives its high voltage (I think I remember reading something about 300V?) from the MFU, whereas the H/L offering has its own high voltage supply safely contained externally. That's why the Tamiya's not compatible with anything, and why it's so much smaller; it doesn't actually contain the necessary electronics. You wouldn't be able to get the Heng Long flash to work with the Tamiya MFU unless you cut it apart and rewired it to the MFU's high voltage power supply, which is not a safe proposition at all.

43rdRecceReg wrote:I see that the Open Panzer TCB can be used with the DMD T-03 esc, and that the HL Flash unit can be adapted to work with the TCB. That, then, looks like one way forward. Any ideas?

If you're using the TCB instead of the Tamiya MFU, there's no reason to use the DMD unless you've already got one spare and can't flog it off on anyone else. It wouldn't make the tank perform any better than a cheaper ESC, and the TCB's going to do all the heavy lifting. If you're already building a hybrid piecemeal, there's no particular need to stick with Tamiya's (needlessly expensive) proprietary gear; cheaper, more flexible options are available to you. Then spend the money you save on the Tamiya bits that are worth it like suspension and sprues.

Very prudent, Dan. I guess that all there is inside the Tamiya unit is a wee capacitor and a tiny PCB which, when triggered, releases the charge. By contrast, then, the Taigen version has some sort of step-up transformer and capacitor built into it, and that makes it outboard to some extent.
As attractive as the TCB is, it still would leave me looking for a sound module (unless Luke's is now available), and suitable robust ESCs. But the biggest issue for me is Time. It's the one commodity that can't be replaced. Balancing life and home management, dog care, writing and recording music (my No 1 interest) and all the quotidian stuff this connected world requires of us, eat into the time available for Tanking. Meantime, I have a brand new and unused 3-D printer
I need to get acquainted with. This will require additional study of basic CAD and more. I'm also building gaming and VR-capable PC at the moment as part on another endeavour...blah, blah.
In short, I'm happy to make time for building model Tanks (that's the real buzz for me ), but want to spend the minimum time 'tuning' them up- so to speak. That's why, if the standard DMD units were available at sensible prices, I'd buy them. They really do just plug and play and, since I've no one to battle with, require no additional features. Simple and quick: that's it...with no hours agonising about configurations, or toggle travel percentages etc., or adding extra switches to my Spektrum DX6i. I added a working backlight, and that was enough for me.
I shall have to write all the potential options down, and cost them.. not only in monetary terms (and value for money terms)...but especially in terms of their Time needed factors. Tamiya DMDs may be dated..but so am I (not quite obsolete yet, but gradually morphing into a Royosaur )