alan_r

Hello guys, if I. not mistaken, this may be my first post here. And boy do I have a good one. About a year ago I decided to add Tanks to my much to diverse interest in RC. So I went out and bought a Torro King Tiger, airsoft version. The tank has worked pretty good out of the box and I was quite happy with it. But as many of you know, as a hobbyist I had to plan upgrades. So I wrote out a plan as to what I wanted the tank to do and started buying gear. I collected most of it but then sailing season and off road racing season started and I put it on the shelf. Now I'm finally getting around to building it again and really don't know where to start.

The stock Tiagen TX works but leaves a lot to be desired. I know everyone is using the Turnigy 9x and that TanksAU has the firmware to convert it over from airplanes to a more tank friendly layout. So of course that's not what I bought. I was seduced by the touch screen and modern feel of the Turnigy TGY-i10 and found a good deal.

The next thing I wanted to do was to upgrade the control board. So I bought the TK-22KT board.

I have lots of other things such as a recoiling airsoft unit, 360 sensor ring, ect.. but I'll deal with that down the road. The first thing that makes sense for me to do is to get the TX programmed to handle tanks. Once that is done I can experiment and set up the channel functions. I'll likely need help with that down the road too.

So, to start. Does anyone know where I can find or purchase tank firmware for the i10? I imagine it will be similar to the 9x being that they are from the same company. This process will be much easier if I am not trying to assign turret elevation to "aileron". Or am I going to have to try and find a way to write the firmware myself? I think it's a good place to start anyway.

Thanks and I look forward to anyone volunteering their time to help me get started with this. AR

alan_r

Yeah this is going to be a mess. I managed to get the tracks controlled by the left stick so that up moves forward, down moves backwards and left/right while moving forward or backwards results in a turn. It will pivot steer when the stick is all the way right or left. However, the turret will only move left or right when the right stick is moved up or down. I cannot get it switched to do so when moving the right stick right or left. I have zero gun elevation no matter how it's hooked up. If I move the turret control lead #3 from the Clark board to Channel #1, I get the cannon sound when pressing up on the right stick; but no turret action. I've tried moving the channels to every conceivable location and I have nothing. This is extremely strange. I knew it would be a challenge so I guess I made some progress tonight. I'll post some pictures of everything I'm working with most likely tomorrow.

I've searched all the forums and from what I can find, there are not too many people doing this so.....the fun continues.

Ultimately I would like to have the following control:

Left stick: Automotive. Tank moves forward, reverse and turns
Right stick: Turret control, gun elevation, turret rotation.
Switch 5: Headlight on and off
Switch 6: Main cannon fire
Switch 7: Machine gun fire
Switch 8: Engine start up and shutdown

Or at least something close to that. We'll see.

YHR

I would suggest you get everything working as per the Clark instructions first. Once you get it working as per Clark's default set up, you can then look at re-assigning the channels more to you preferences. That is how I worked through my first Clark install, and ended up with something that mimics the HL set up

Cheers

Panther G

One of the biggest mistakes is buying overly complicated radios for basically 4 or 5 channel tanks. Which is really all that is ever needed and in most cases the computerized radios cause more set up issues than there are functions on the rc tank. KISS principle is your friend. Dan should be able to get you sorted out, he has a lot of experience with the Clark boards so listen to him and things will get worked out.

alan_r

YHR: That's what I would have thought too. I went by the instructions on the Clark website first and figured I'd go from there. But when I installed the channels coming out of the Clark board to the receiver, nothing worked. By switching them around I managed to get the automotive side working on one gimbal, but no other controls worked. I'm beginning to wonder if the radio is configured properly; I may hook up a servo and actually see what channel does what.

The radio is really no more complicated than the 9x that is popular, it just has a color touch screen and is programmable. It will make a great tank radio once I get it sorted out.

alan_r

Ha ha!! lol. That took 15 minutes.

Panther: Your comment actually got me thinking a bit. I went back to basics and treated this radio as if it where a simple 4 channel system. It was while I was identifying channels 1-4 that I noticed aileron/rudder mixing was turned on by default for some reason. Hence the weird behaviour. I now have all the functions that the original Torro radio had; and that's a good place to start. I did notice that the headlight and machine gun/cannon seem to be programmed into the TK22 so a may not be able to change that. However, I can use micro servos and switches to control these functions with the additional switches on the TX. We'll see, but I'm not completely lost any more so thank you.

Panther G

Thats pretty much what i was saying Alan. these tanks even with some of the higher end boards really only need 4 or 5 channels to run properly. Now if you go the way of having it do a dance and sing Panzerlied as you parade down the street like some guys want them to do then yeah you may need a bigger radio. the basic operation is very simple * total movements 4 channels and 2 sticks. not that complicated. How you figured it out is really the best way to go about it as far a s set up. The computer radios with digital trims can cause problems because some times we need functions that use the trim slides set a a point because of dual use. That is where the confusion always comes into play.

TheBennyB

Your absolutely right Gregg. Don't really want to beat this horse again but in my opinion a basic 4ch system is the way to go. Can't tell you how many times I've been at a battle start and 2-3 guys are dead sticks cause their settings changed or forgot to change the model on their TX, or didn't change settings from a bench testing session. Hell, I look for people on the battlefield with them newfangled TX's hoping thier elevation or cannon is on an awkward switch. Don't get me wrong, love my DX-8 for aviation, just not needed for armor unless you really need to quiet your tank or turn off the smoker via TX. Alan, what Panther and I are saying is any TX where endpoints, expo, mixing, etc come into play just make your life harder with most of the electronics available for these tanks. I'm sure we'll hear the other side of this, and thats cool. Love this forum for that.

YHR

I am in the same camp except I go with a 6 channel radio. I don't mix channels and prefer to keep the radio pretty basic. I also quit mixing up different styles of boards. It just got too confusing. My tanks all now get a pretty standard set up, and they are all set up the same. It just makes everything easier..

Crius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3TMYh25PW0

Panther G

SEE what i mean ? LMFAO.

thecommander

We have all been there Alan. K.I.S.S.

Hey guys....Don't forget my free radio offer guys to my fellow RCU members. I have 3 of the 5 "loaners" available as of this week. I will loan you a Futaba 4YF 4ch custom tank radio system for you to set up your new tank. Just PM me when you are ready. Please keep the turn around time to 2 weeks or less so that others may partake. Just PM me for details on shipping.