RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I’m building my first Tamiya RC tank and I’ve run into a glitch. I’ve completed the lower hull (suspension, tracks and the rear panel). All of this is completed by section 11 of the instructions (download the pdf and follow along). Section 14 and 15 describe how to connect and test the basic electronics of the tank (receiver, motors, speaker and the two ‘brain boxes’ of the system......the MF-02 and the T-05).

I wanted to bench test this system before mounting it in the tank. I connected the various components as section 14 desired and tried testing it as section 15 requires. But something is amiss and I can’t figure out what. So I’m appealing to folks that have Tamiya full option tanks to try and figure out what’s what.

When I connect the system and power it up, the two lights on the T-05 both light up orange (both the red and green LEDs are on). I walk through the steps that section 15 describe and the two lights are now blinking green. Once I finish step 6, the speaker sounds the motors on startup.....but only for 2 or 3 seconds. Moving the joystick provides no motor movement. I know the motors work because I can connect them directly to the 7.2v battery and they both spin freely. Meanwhile the MF-02 LED is orange as well.

The troubleshooting guide (p28) says the orange light should mean that the communication cable is broken or not properly connected. I used a voltmeter and checked the continuity of all four wires and they are fine.

So has anyone run across this issue before? Or is this so esoteric that I should contact Tamiya and see what they can do for me? Does Tamiya even have a tech support group for these things?

Dayle

Dayle I've run into this before. Try rebinding the tx to the rx.

Dayle also check the instructions You need to program the DMD and MFU to your radio if I remember correctly the steps are in the instruction booklet

c.rainford73 wrote:Dayle I've run into this before. Try rebinding the tx to the rx.

Forgive my nãivite.....what does "rebinding" mean?

I’ll re-read the instructions and see about programming the DMD and MFU

Make sure the transmitter and receiver are properly bound to one another. What brand radio are you using? Many come with a binding cable

Daryl are you getting and upper hull functions? Are all of your radio channels connected to the proper locations ch 1--4? Sounds silly but I've seen it happen where it's a simple reconnection issue.

Make sure the cables on the receiver are not plugged upside down. Happened to me with my new Radio.

c.rainford73 wrote:Make sure the transmitter and receiver are properly bound to one another. What brand radio are you using? Many come with a binding cable

I’m using a Futaba 4 channel. It’s the one I bought waaaaay back when (1991) when I got the Tamiya KT kit. It’s a 27MHz system.

I took the whole system to friend’s place tonight. We used servos from his stash and figured out the tx, rx are working as his servos worked when we used the joystick.

As for upper hull response, this check was only designed to test the lower hull system.....as such they did not have me connect the other wiring (turret motors, lights, etc.).

I’ll give it another whirl tomorrow....many thanks for the tips.

Dayle

If you're getting a green light on the dmd then the system is getting a radio signal

Son of a gun-ner wrote:This may seem a silly question, but have your got both crystals in place? One in your transmitter TX and one in the tank RX and do you have provision/the socket to fit the one in your tank? From reading above, it appears everyone is assuming you are using the 2.4 gig system. Hence the binding suggestions. 27 meg uses crystals of matching numbers.

Mick.

Ah ha....(as a golden ray of light shines on Dayle).....crainford73 asked if my radio was bonded properly. I had no idea what he was talking about. That’s because I have a 27MHz system. It’s a Futaba system I bought back in 1991 with the Tamiya KT.

And, yes, the crystals are the same. As I said, I went to a friend’s place and we used a couple of his spare servos to test the radio. Both worked as they’re supposed to.

One thing we discovered while doing that test.......one joystick did both servos.

Another data point....on p7 (towards the bottom) the instructions say not to use a 6v battery to,power the receiver or DMD unit. If I only have the 7.2v LiPo battery connected, nothing responds....no status lights, no movement, nothing. Would a 2.4GHz system "mate" better with tank’s electronics?

Dayle