RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

[FIXED TLDR - If you scroll right down to one of my later posts you can read the full details of the fix but essentially I opened the remote/controller slightly and pushed in the connector into the circuit board that leads from the right shoulder button]

Hey there, I've put an introduction underneath the problem as it seems rude to just ask for help without telling you a little about myself but at the same time I don't want someone who just wants to help having to read through my intro.

Problem

Heng Long Challenger 2, version 6, all plastic (for now).

Main Canon not firing, no sound, no movement. After reading these forums I checked/tried the following...
1) Read the manual, cover to cover.
2) Check for safety switch in drivers hatch. Result - Not present in later models so not on this tank.
3) Hold down silver button labelled "Bullet Shooting" and push left hand (barrel elevation) stick up. - Result - No effect.
4) I'm missing a manual, found a PDF with the remote online, read this cover to cover.
5) As per new manual I tried holding down button B (Safety button marked "Bullet Shooting" and then pressing button A (Marked machine Gun sound), not working either.

Anything else I might be missing (some other safety feature) or is the remote/tank likely faulty?

I'll dig out my Torro remote to test if the remote is the issue. It is probably still pretty cheap but if I recall correctly much better than this Christmas cracker style remote that came free with the cheap plastic version of the Heng Long's Chally 2, I assume it will work once paired?


Introduction

I'm from Lancashire in the UK, I've hovered around for a few years reading the forums but never joined as frankly I'm an odd sort of RC tank person.

I'm a tank nut but generally I collected models rather than RC, Forces of Valor 1/32 pretty much all the models, Forces of Valor 1/16 extreme metal series (Tiger 1 (Ausf. E), Tiger 2 (Ausf. B), D-Day Sherman.

Forces of Valor were always slow to release models and their Extreme Metal series was even worse at 1 model every 5 years, then they were bought by if I recall correctly a Chinese corporation and well, that's probably the end of them and almost certainly the extreme metal series.

As an alternative I looked at RC and found that whilst the paint applications aren't very impressive the details themselves are actually very good and you can get accessories to improve them if you wish. So I bought my first RC, a Torro full metal (hull, gearbox, tracks etc) Tiger 2, so that I could paint and pretty much turn it into a fairly accurate looking model.

The RC element always appealed to me but frankly I'm very busy with work and don't get a lot of chances to get out much so generally it's an afterthought even though I do prefer to fully upgrade the tanks whilst they are current models, you never know when the parts will go end of line and maybe even the scale change. So with that in mind I like to check they are fully working.

I'd have bought a Mark One 1/6th Challenger 2 except I've no idea how I'd get it into my car (it's a Coupe, a really big coupe with enough room for the tank once the seats are down but actually getting it up and over the back bumper and into the boot would be a challenge, pun intended ) so to even collect it let alone to take it places isn't practical, maybe my next vehicle will be a closed cab pickup or something like that, who knows.

Hi, Welcome to the Forum
First ,
Did this problem exist from new?
And if so who did you buy the Tank from?
Did you buy it from an auction site?
And if so did it come with any warnings of failings?
Did you pay using a credit card or Pay-Pal?

Thanks for coming back to me, I'm assuming since you are asking about the sale details you are leaning towards there being a fault?

Answers to questions are...

Ebay, sold as brand new (no details suggesting sold as is), paid for by Paypal.

Now, I can send it back but to be honest one of the reasons I posted was I am planning on overhauling the entire tank anyway (battery, metal gearbox, sprockets, idlers, tracks with pads etc). I don't care about the BB firing in the slightest, tbh I'd only ever use it in an IR battle as after I've spray painted and detailed it the last thing I want is for people to shoot BB's at it.

With that in mind I assume the firing recoil and sound has two components (excluding the speaker)...

The remote and the Main circuit board, if I upgrade both I should resolve the issue I assume?

Aside from fixing the issue I was wondering what the benefits of an upgraded mainboard are and does anyone have any recommendations as to mainboard and remote? (I'm not looking for cheap, best you can buy as well as maybe a reasonably priced and recommended option would be appreciated).

Hi and welcome to the forum Mr Morkath

I read your introduction first, it's handy to know your level of knowledge and skills before giving advice

Sadly the Torro and Heng Long controllers won't be interchangeable as their operating codes won't be compatible.

With regards to the gun not working, you could have something simple as a bad connection, un soldered wire, faulty motor and so on. To a fault with either the controller or MFU. Although you say you want to replace all the electronics, sometimes it's handy to have working spares for possible upcoming projects. Or to sell on, the V6 electronics would be a desirable purchase for some.

Personally I would ask for a replacement. Can you remember the vendors eBay name from whom you made the purchase? They may be a known vendor to us.
A link to the sale would even be better, some sellers have multiple eBay accounts and we can "sometimes" work out who they are for a more direct contact.

Both E-Bay and Pay-Pal have effective safety nets that favour the buyer,
I hear what you say about wanting to get on with building your own Tank, in that regard you are preaching to the converted BUT no matter what deal you got from E-Bay I would return it and start again,
There are some good dealers on E-Bay but also some 100% ratbags, If it is Howes they are a good dealer who wont quibble and will do a straight swap within days, If it is Nitrotek then you have been shafted and good luck, Dealing with them is best left to Pay-Pal.
Trust me the Challie with a Version 6.0 will still be out there from a decent dealer when you return this Friday special.

Thanks for the advice, you've convinced me it needs sorting. If I can figure out how to get inside the tank without voiding any warranty I'll take a quick look at connectors and solder, see if there is anything obvious I can fix. I've been an enterprise level computer engineer for 20 years and have always serviced and repaired my own personal vehicle so I feel comfortable with working on this.

Thanks for the info on the controller, I had no idea the two brands would be incompatible, I'd always thought Torro were just upgraded Heng Long vehicles.

It could well be a Friday special, I got it from an ebay seller named...

mickeyboythegasman

He's got great ratings but it was around £30 cheaper than most other offers, money I'll probably lose in carriage now. Should have just gone with Amazon for simplicity of the swap.

Sorry, that's not a vendor I'm familiar with, nor is it an eBay extension of one of the known companies.

In the past there was a sort of connection between the companies, but with regards to electronics, they went their own ways, Matto, Mattorro, Torro are all from the same stable, the latter seeming the closest to Taigen which used to be the closest to Heng Long. I'm not sure of their history, but I'm sure there was a lot of copying going on.

Thanks for the input, I opened up Ebay and chose the Return option and then defective/not functioning, did not see any option to return for replacement, instead it gave me a tracked royal mail label to print to return for Refund so I'll pop down to the post office with it in the morning and send it back.

Typical but it ran out of battery before I could spin the turret back to the rear so I could repackage it, must have been low. Have it on charge, any idea how long it will need for a basic charge?

Since it's being refunded I'll probably order a replacement from Amazon in the mean time, I'd like to get started on this project within the next week as I'm off on holiday atm.

Have you contacted the seller yet? I've been lucky so far as I haven't had to return anything purchased on eBay, but I always thought you had to contact the seller first to give them a chance to rectify the problem?!

Tbh this is also the first item that I have had to return on Ebay, pretty lucky considering I've been using it since it started.

It does state when I check the item..

" Status: You requested a return and the seller should respond soon."

Though it also states "Return Initiated" and gives me the return details and labels. Hopefully the seller responds quickly but honestly I suspect an exchange will require this unit to be sent back and then he would send a replacement, that could take a week or two. I'd like to be patient and give the seller a chance to resolve it but my free time is extremely precious to me and frankly if I can't work on the respray during my two weeks off I'll be forced to resort to doing DIY around the house. A pretty dire alternative for a vacation I'm sure you can agree.