Matorro king tiger question?
07-07-2014, 06:45 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Matorro king tiger question?
Hello, I have a couple of questions. Has anyone converted the matorro king tiger to the RX -18 electronics? I'm having problems with the stock electronics. Also is it a plug in conversion or will it need to be modified in any way as I'm kind of a novice when it comes to electronics. And what parts will I need to purchase to do it? I have heng long transmitters already so I need to know what else I need besides the rx-18 board. Thank you John
07-07-2014, 09:06 PM
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After three tanks (HL King tiger, tiger 1 and Mark III) I recommend to get the heng long 2.4 Ghz system. I have never been happy with the lousy reception and performance of either the TK01 (what you probably have now) OR the RX18. I have found the lousy performance the same with either system. The 2.4 Ghz really is superior, there are no glitches in radio reception and performance is 100%.
But if you decide to swap your radio system to the RX18 you will need
-a new transmitter, ($40)
-a crystal set (2 of them- $10-15) one plug in the transmitter, and the other in the
-Receiver board ($10-20)
-RX18 wiring set ($10-15)
-Several feet of red wire and black wire (18 gauge or close to it) ($10)
-Soldering iron and solder ($20) OR
-Solderless connectors and the crimping tool ($20)
-wire cutters tool i.e. "dikes"($10)
(So we are talking about the same amount of money to go with the RX18 vs. the 2.4 Ghz, the system i STRONGLY recommend to get...the swap will be about $100).
The king tiger was my first 1/16 R/C tank and I started off trying to go the low buck route. I got the KT with no smoke or sound and just the TK01 board (I did not know all these parts existed at the time, I learned the hard, meaning expensive way!)
The "cheap tank" ended up costing me MORE trying to make it all work. I had problems with the king tiger in the first two weeks. It quit working, and foolishly I started changing parts. Like I said, the tank came with the lousy TK01 board (everything soldered, no plug in wires) and tried changing that. Big mistake! I should have just went straight to the 2.4 ghz system, cut the wires on that cheap board,thrown it away and forgotten about it because the TK01 are worthless! Next time i will never bother replacing a tK01 board with another. The board takes weeks to arrive, are relatively expensive, and on most of them you have to solder the 4 motor connector wires to the board yourself! And after all this, at best you wind up with, again, the lousy reception andd a tank that works intermittently.
The problem turned out to be the transmitter anyway and i wasted another $40 on a new transmitter (For the tk-01 circuit board, the RX18, or the 2.4 Ghz transmitters-they DO NOT interchange.)
(BTW treat your trans like eggs, NEVER slap it to remove the batteries..always pry them out! .Ask me how i know). Next i tried switching to the RX18, changed the wiring like in the picture-STILL lousy radio reception and goofy performance! MORE money wasted on transmitters, and circuit boards. I even added a model helicopter antenna wire and soldered it to the receiver wire hoping to improve radio reception-no change in performance!)
If i had only known about all this junk, I would have just gone straight for the 2.4 ghz system because it would have been cheaper!!! If you want a tank to drive and not just to look at, this is the way to go, and the least expensive way.
By the way, The heng long transmitters are ALL very very delicate! Do not drop, always PRY the batteries out, like i said treat it like eggs or it will malfunction for sure.
This is what the king tiger wiring looks like. Notice the receiver wire goes off and the end is hidden under the brace i added, That's because there's no separate receiver board-the wire ends in a small button. The button is only used for binding to a transmitter. If you buy the set from somewhere, usually they will test it and bind the transmitter to the receiver for you already before the ship it to you. Just plug everything in.
The 25 mm fan i cut holes and glued it on, to the top of the receiver box. It is an 8000 rpm evercool fan to cool the board. Its wired in with the power/on off switch. And i wired in a 5 amp fuse inline. The fuse is hard to see but its the brown thing, next to the white loop right under the brace with two wires going into it connected by the female solderless connectors.
In other words, coming from the on/off switch, the wire for the power is split in two wires, and goes to the power to the receiver, and to power the fan. In between the power switch from the battery, and the fan and the receiver is the fuse. I have blown the fuse twice, (when i tried to drive the tank through those wood chips they throw around trees for decoration in some places)-the tracks got stuck and the fuse blew. (I cleaned out the wood chips and replaced the fuse of course).You can just use female solderless connectors and they attach right to the fuse, standard automotive 5 amp fuse. (I you do this, Get spares.)
The wiring is the same as for the RX 18 so you will just need a wiring set for that. Ali express and ebay sell these sets for about $10. They come with the power connector wires, two motor connectors, the turret connector wire, and the receiver board wire (three wired conectors on both ends)(and maybe your smoke/sound wire can't remember). Assuming you have the old solder TK01 board, you have to cut your old wires and splice them to these new wires to plug into the receiver (either RX18 or 2.4 receiver). if you go with the RX18 you will need to buy the seperate receiver board, that the antenna wire comes out of.
If you get the 2.4 ghz heng long radio system, you can get it from amazon, welsh dragon, ali express and a fews other places for about $70-80. I have two of these radio sets and worth every penny, eliminates the problems with the radio system. Once you've connected the wiring it is easy to hook up. Unlike the RX18. with the 2,.4 ghz you do not need the seperate receiver board, just the receiver, the wiring for each motor, the power cord of course, and the turret hook up cable. Plus the smoke and the sound if you have that too, As you can see in the pictures, to splice wires, i use the solderless connectors and crimping tool, then a little drop of glue in the connectors afterwards for a tight connection. It is a bit of work but the performance is flawless. If you are good at soldering then you'd want to solder the wires instead-i prefer the solderless connectors.
The tiger has rubber zimmerit from Welsh Dragon ($30) glued on. It looks pretty good, to me. Also I added opening metal hatches ($10) when i moved the power switch under the drivers hatch.
Here's the power switch-i used a bent computer slot cover to hold it.
.
Both of these tanks have the 2.4Ghz. It is possible to use two tanks on one transmitter, binding is simple. You hold down the button on the binding wire (replaces the receiver wire) while holding down the "Start" (first) button on the transmitter. When bound the lights on the tank flash quit blinking and the light is steady.
You just can't use both tanks at the same time, unless you have one transmitter per tank.
Good luck whichever system you choose to use!
But if you decide to swap your radio system to the RX18 you will need
-a new transmitter, ($40)
-a crystal set (2 of them- $10-15) one plug in the transmitter, and the other in the
-Receiver board ($10-20)
-RX18 wiring set ($10-15)
-Several feet of red wire and black wire (18 gauge or close to it) ($10)
-Soldering iron and solder ($20) OR
-Solderless connectors and the crimping tool ($20)
-wire cutters tool i.e. "dikes"($10)
(So we are talking about the same amount of money to go with the RX18 vs. the 2.4 Ghz, the system i STRONGLY recommend to get...the swap will be about $100).
The king tiger was my first 1/16 R/C tank and I started off trying to go the low buck route. I got the KT with no smoke or sound and just the TK01 board (I did not know all these parts existed at the time, I learned the hard, meaning expensive way!)
The "cheap tank" ended up costing me MORE trying to make it all work. I had problems with the king tiger in the first two weeks. It quit working, and foolishly I started changing parts. Like I said, the tank came with the lousy TK01 board (everything soldered, no plug in wires) and tried changing that. Big mistake! I should have just went straight to the 2.4 ghz system, cut the wires on that cheap board,thrown it away and forgotten about it because the TK01 are worthless! Next time i will never bother replacing a tK01 board with another. The board takes weeks to arrive, are relatively expensive, and on most of them you have to solder the 4 motor connector wires to the board yourself! And after all this, at best you wind up with, again, the lousy reception andd a tank that works intermittently.
The problem turned out to be the transmitter anyway and i wasted another $40 on a new transmitter (For the tk-01 circuit board, the RX18, or the 2.4 Ghz transmitters-they DO NOT interchange.)
(BTW treat your trans like eggs, NEVER slap it to remove the batteries..always pry them out! .Ask me how i know). Next i tried switching to the RX18, changed the wiring like in the picture-STILL lousy radio reception and goofy performance! MORE money wasted on transmitters, and circuit boards. I even added a model helicopter antenna wire and soldered it to the receiver wire hoping to improve radio reception-no change in performance!)
If i had only known about all this junk, I would have just gone straight for the 2.4 ghz system because it would have been cheaper!!! If you want a tank to drive and not just to look at, this is the way to go, and the least expensive way.
By the way, The heng long transmitters are ALL very very delicate! Do not drop, always PRY the batteries out, like i said treat it like eggs or it will malfunction for sure.
This is what the king tiger wiring looks like. Notice the receiver wire goes off and the end is hidden under the brace i added, That's because there's no separate receiver board-the wire ends in a small button. The button is only used for binding to a transmitter. If you buy the set from somewhere, usually they will test it and bind the transmitter to the receiver for you already before the ship it to you. Just plug everything in.
The 25 mm fan i cut holes and glued it on, to the top of the receiver box. It is an 8000 rpm evercool fan to cool the board. Its wired in with the power/on off switch. And i wired in a 5 amp fuse inline. The fuse is hard to see but its the brown thing, next to the white loop right under the brace with two wires going into it connected by the female solderless connectors.
In other words, coming from the on/off switch, the wire for the power is split in two wires, and goes to the power to the receiver, and to power the fan. In between the power switch from the battery, and the fan and the receiver is the fuse. I have blown the fuse twice, (when i tried to drive the tank through those wood chips they throw around trees for decoration in some places)-the tracks got stuck and the fuse blew. (I cleaned out the wood chips and replaced the fuse of course).You can just use female solderless connectors and they attach right to the fuse, standard automotive 5 amp fuse. (I you do this, Get spares.)
The wiring is the same as for the RX 18 so you will just need a wiring set for that. Ali express and ebay sell these sets for about $10. They come with the power connector wires, two motor connectors, the turret connector wire, and the receiver board wire (three wired conectors on both ends)(and maybe your smoke/sound wire can't remember). Assuming you have the old solder TK01 board, you have to cut your old wires and splice them to these new wires to plug into the receiver (either RX18 or 2.4 receiver). if you go with the RX18 you will need to buy the seperate receiver board, that the antenna wire comes out of.
If you get the 2.4 ghz heng long radio system, you can get it from amazon, welsh dragon, ali express and a fews other places for about $70-80. I have two of these radio sets and worth every penny, eliminates the problems with the radio system. Once you've connected the wiring it is easy to hook up. Unlike the RX18. with the 2,.4 ghz you do not need the seperate receiver board, just the receiver, the wiring for each motor, the power cord of course, and the turret hook up cable. Plus the smoke and the sound if you have that too, As you can see in the pictures, to splice wires, i use the solderless connectors and crimping tool, then a little drop of glue in the connectors afterwards for a tight connection. It is a bit of work but the performance is flawless. If you are good at soldering then you'd want to solder the wires instead-i prefer the solderless connectors.
The tiger has rubber zimmerit from Welsh Dragon ($30) glued on. It looks pretty good, to me. Also I added opening metal hatches ($10) when i moved the power switch under the drivers hatch.
Here's the power switch-i used a bent computer slot cover to hold it.
.
Both of these tanks have the 2.4Ghz. It is possible to use two tanks on one transmitter, binding is simple. You hold down the button on the binding wire (replaces the receiver wire) while holding down the "Start" (first) button on the transmitter. When bound the lights on the tank flash quit blinking and the light is steady.
You just can't use both tanks at the same time, unless you have one transmitter per tank.
Good luck whichever system you choose to use!
Last edited by Marc780; 07-07-2014 at 09:56 PM.
07-08-2014, 12:58 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Thank you for the responses but I'm hoping to find someone who has done this conversion with the matorro king tiger. The wires on this model all have plugs and I'm wondering if they will plug right in?
07-08-2014, 05:43 PM
#6
Thread Starter
Thank you Dan, I'm going to order parts I need and take a shot at it. The only thing I did notice is that the 8-pin plug going into the upper hull is soldered on the board so I will have to order a wire with an 8-pin connection on both ends.
07-10-2014, 08:22 AM
#7
I know for sure Artistic Hobbies has some wiring kits, and Immortal Hobbies should have some too. If not they can both get them if you need it. The part number is TAG120611 and includes most of the wires you need.
07-11-2014, 01:37 PM
#9
Generally if I need to do an electronics upgrade, i upgrade them not swap them out for something only marginally better. there are options for the RX 18 but their 2.4 version isn't it. look at some of the other options out there since you will be replacing the main system. Dan has a really nice RX 18 system with excellent sound . Don't just settle for a linear swap, Upgrade it.
07-11-2014, 06:30 PM
#11
Thread Starter
I should have been a little more clear in my description. The tank is not working. The headlight blinks but the tank will not start. I tried changing the crystals and the transmitter and batteries nothing worked. I am just looking for a backyard runner on a budget. I ordered the rx-18 non 2.4,receiver board and a set of wires for $50.00. Hopefully I will get it up and running soon.
07-16-2014, 06:27 PM
#12
Thread Starter
Alright I received the Rx-18 today and installed it. The functions in the lower hull are all working properly but unfortunately nothing is working in the upper hull. The machine gun and headlight only come on when I push the joystick to the right. Looks like matorro wired the upper hull completely different then heng long did. I will have to rewire it and connect the wires directly to each other. My question is what gauge wire does the heng long rx-18 use? I'm a little new at this so sorry for all the questions. Thank you John
04-05-2021, 03:26 AM
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Alright I received the Rx-18 today and installed it. The functions in the lower hull are all working properly but unfortunately nothing is working in the upper hull. The machine gun and headlight only come on when I push the joystick to the right. Looks like matorro wired the upper hull completely different then heng long did. I will have to rewire it and connect the wires directly to each other. My question is what gauge wire does the heng long rx-18 use? I'm a little new at this so sorry for all the questions. Thank you John
Last edited by m_eye_flying; 04-05-2021 at 07:23 AM.
04-06-2021, 05:05 AM
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When I mentioned I get "sounds, guns and cannon," I meant I get just the simulated sounds no actual upper hull movement and no gear movement when motors are plugged in.
04-06-2021, 07:21 AM
#15
Now, don't take this personally, but I think it's kind of foolish to put an RX 18 in that tank. There's so many boards that are so much better available and they don't cost that much. You could even go with the V3 from Imex and the whole system is well under $100 and you'd have much better motor control and proportional speed on your turret and many other advantages. In fact, if you wanted to use a taigen V2 system I can send you the mfu, the transmitter, even an aftermarket board to get rid of the track recoil, for next to nothing. For just the MFU and the transmitter, I'll give it to you for $15 plus postage. The anti track recoil device cost a little more so if you wanted the V2 unit and anti track recoil, we can work something out for that. The point is that you can put much better Electronics in that thing for very little money. The rx18 is pretty much the bottom of the barrel anymore. I would get something good to put in there.
04-06-2021, 06:37 PM
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Now, don't take this personally, but I think it's kind of foolish to put an RX 18 in that tank. There's so many boards that are so much better available and they don't cost that much. You could even go with the V3 from Imex and the whole system is well under $100 and you'd have much better motor control and proportional speed on your turret and many other advantages. In fact, if you wanted to use a taigen V2 system I can send you the mfu, the transmitter, even an aftermarket board to get rid of the track recoil, for next to nothing. For just the MFU and the transmitter, I'll give it to you for $15 plus postage. The anti track recoil device cost a little more so if you wanted the V2 unit and anti track recoil, we can work something out for that. The point is that you can put much better Electronics in that thing for very little money. The rx18 is pretty much the bottom of the barrel anymore. I would get something good to put in there.
04-07-2021, 01:42 AM
#17
I have both, the 6.0 and the 5.3, and I wouldn't take another 5.3 if you gave it to me. The motor controllers in the 5.3 aren't very good, so you're low speed control really sucks. That was one major advancement they made with the 6.0, was low speed control.
04-07-2021, 04:10 AM
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Much appreciated for your honest comment on the 5.3. Will see how it goes. I did see that in reviews. Thank you again for comments. I know this tank is older and like you said any board is better than RX18, so figured I would try the 5.3. I had ordered before I saw your offer on the Taigen V2. That seems a better option by far, but 5.3 board and Tx have been shipped now.
05-02-2021, 04:57 AM
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So, finally got the Heng Long V5.3 board and Matorro top / bottom hull working with connectors and everything going well, then after two minutes magic smoke from board. Really? Seems like upgrading this tank is more of pain and cost then its worth. Guess it will be static model. Only thing I can think of is the slow turret motor and barrel. Those functioned fine and really saw smoke after doing the barrel up and down. Perhaps too much of a load on board. I guess I can try swapping out both the turret and barrel from original to Heng long ones and see, but now were talking about another $70, not worth it.
Last edited by m_eye_flying; 05-02-2021 at 07:19 AM.
05-02-2021, 07:19 AM
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After some time later, further discovery is when the BB unit was actuated, that is when the smoke started. Got it on video hearing a slight pop noise not related to BB unit followed by white smoke coming out of the hull. I had the recoil pins set with a jumper as well. Thinking the Matorro BB unit was to much juice/power for v5.3 and caused a part to pop on the board. BB unit no longer fires or recoils. Can physically see the scorch mark. Just a theory. All other part function still, just not BB. Maybe, get a new board and not use BB and convert to flash or drive it and forgot about the barrel firing.
Last edited by m_eye_flying; 05-03-2021 at 04:47 AM.
