jollypotatoe

i'm a Newbie to the RC Tank world, I just purchased 2 Hen Long IRTanks a few days ago, I bought the 1:16 R/C S&S Green KV-1 (Super IR Version)and 1:16 R/C S&S Stug Ausf F/8 III Tank(Super IR Version) that included the Infrared tower. . I charged up the batteries and installed the IR Tower on both tanksand they seem to run fine on their own,(they fire, move, rotate etc) but whenthey have a"battle" the Stug Ausf tank doesn't react to being hit when the KV-1 fires at it. The KV-1 does react as described and "dies" afterbeing hit 5 times from the Stug Ausf Tank. Theyboth seem to be firing okay, they both flash the light from the cannon and recoil when they fire at each other. I tried switching the IR towers from one tank to the other, and thesame thing happens (KV-1 will react and diein battle, but theStug Ausf stilldoesn't react after being shot at from the KV-1).

Do you have any suggestionson what iswrong with thetank(s)? Is the Stug Ausf tank defectiveor is their an adjustment or setting I need to set? I'm guessing the S&S Stug AusfF/8 III(super IR Version) is the defective one,unless the KV-1 somehow is not emitting enough light when it fires (Is that how the infrared battle tanks work? I'm assuming thats not the problem). I'm no expert on RC tanks I just got into this hobby,soI don't know if there is an easy fix or a setting detail I'm unaware of that you might know about to fix this problem.
I talked to the seller and they said the problem shouldbethe receiver board in the tank. But they can not be suretheproblem is from the KV-1 or Stug III. It could be the KV-1 shooting or Stug III receiving system. They saidanewreplacement receiver board canfix the problem if we know theproblem is from KV-1 or Stug III.They suggested that theycan sendmethereceiver board and Ican install this myself. Is this easy to do? Is there a post on how to change the receiver board on the KV-1 or the Stug III?
I am buying a Super IRVersionPanther Tankas well and they said I should use this tank to test out which of my 2tankis the defectiveone.
Have you heard of this problem before?

THANKS GUYS FOR ANY SUGGESTIONS.

BiggTony

Unless your unwilling to open up the Stug and make sure the Tower's plugadapteris plugged into it'sproperstate........send it back. It could be something as simple as that, but make sure it's the risk of voiding your warranty. Also if it's a defective board....calculate the difference in money out of pocket for ordering a new RX18 board + shipping over shipping the entire tank back. Hopefully who ever you purchased it from wouldn't mind saving you both the extra fee by just sending you a new RX18 board....that is if it is defective.

Contact them first to see if they don't mind that you open it up and lay out the benefits of just providing you the replacement board vs you paying one way and them paying for shipping heavier tank back to you.....if they warranty it at all.

You may also be right, that it's the emitter on the KV1. As for the KV1 without having to open it up and checking the IR led with a volt/diode-meter...if you have a video camera, digital camera, nanny cam, , you can check if the IR emitter is working by taping it or watching it when it fires. You should now be able tovisuallysee that it's working....also if you have a kiddie infrared night vision goggles, lol

Looks like a bit of trouble shooting you need to do, but easy nonetheless.

Tony

Panther G

As far as voiding warranties with these HL tanks, you guys may a s well not bother. You WILL have to open your HL tanks. It WILL VOID the warranties. This is just a fact of life with the hobby as a whole. EVERY RC no matter what type needs to be opened , maintained and repaired. The sooner you learn how to do it the better off you will be and the less agrivation you will have. Because these large retailers don't care about you. PERIOD. They sell VOLUME. if 1 out of a hundred customers is not happy why should they care. Buy from BILL, RCCommand, Phil RCTankWars or Steve, Welshdragons. It IS that simple.

BiggTony

I agree, but.....He's in Canada, so this is just an assumption, he may have bought from Matomart orsome otherdealer in Canada. Since he stated that he just purchased the tanks...he may not want to open it up and he maybe a casual tanker for now. I myself had problems as soon as I got my tank from Phil. Swing arms falling off, tons of missing screws, blown smoker off the batt (of course), broken machine gun, etc... butfortunatelyI was amemberhere and prepared myself for the worse. Also, I was planning on opening it up and learning to repair things myself.....not everyone wants thisresponsibilitywhich is whyPhil, and other retailers offer repair services under and outside warranties. Thought I'd just point that out to him.

Panther G

Tony your point is well taken and absolutely correct, but if you, even as a casual hobbiest dont learn a few things, 1 you wont be in the hobby long, or 2 you will pay through the nose for every little issue. And most likely spend more time waiting for things being shipped back and forth than actually playing with your toys.

BiggTony

True dat! 

YHR

I agree. To think you will run an RC and never have to open up and fix is pure fiction. Open it up. THe new Heng Longs are all plug and play. It could simply be the plug has worked loose in shipping.

Opening up a Heng Long and checking the plugs is a simple exercise.

If everytihg is in order, and it still doens't work take the vendor up on a new RX 18. Now that everything is plug and play it is downright simple to do.

jollypotatoe

Thanks for the quick response guys, I threw out this problem thinking someone might read it and respond in a few days, I didn't think anyone let alone 4 people would do it so quickly. Thanks for your feedback.
I used Bigg Tony's suggestion of looking through the video camera to see it the IR emitter on the KV1 was working. That's cool, I never realized that what that light beside the cannon did. Yes it is working so it seems the problem is with the Stug. I talked to the seller "RC Dynasty" (found him on ebay.ca) and they seemed to be pretty cool guys. They are going to send me the receiver board when they send me my "Panther" and said that if I couldn't figure out how to put in the new board or if that didn't work when I did install it, I can send back the tank and the board and they will fix it for me. I thinks that very reasonable of them.
I'm assumming when they're talking about the receiver board-that's the same as the "RX 18" you are talking about.
How does one start taking apart the Stug to get at the board, I'm assuming I have to take the tracks off and unscrew some screws on the bottom of the tank, is there a thread on this?
BiggTony also suggested "make sure the Tower's plug adapter is plugged into it's proper state". Are you talking about the adapter wired connected to the board inside the turret.?
Since it appears they are going to take back the tank if I can't fix it, I'm willing to try to repair it on may own and get my hands dirty. I still want to do it right as to not do any extra damage tank.
Any advice?

BiggTony

Hey JP,

jollypotatoe

Thanks for the post to the tutorial, I'm taking some screws off the bottom of the Tank as I write this. I was looking for the past hour trying to find a thread about dissassembling the tank when I got your reply.  Im going to see if all the wires are attached first since I don't have the board yet. you mentioned the "IR adapter might not be plugged in right" so I'm gong to take a look.
thanks again guys.

BiggTony

Yeah, that can be the only two scenarios likely to be the problem. Loose connection or bad board. You've already done some of the obvious trouble shooting. You swapped towers, so you eliminated the possibility of it being a faulty tower. You've verified that the IR transmitter works on the KV1.......what else is there? If it's connected to the board properly, then it has to be the board. 

jollypotatoe

Thanks BiggTony on your responses, yeah I think your right about RCdynasty being Mato Mart, the shipping box said MatoMart on the side. The pricing in RCdynasty is cheaper than on the Mato Mart website, so I guess it's like generic cola that "coke" sells to the big box stores labelled as "No Name cola" even though it's the same product.
Anyways I'm looking at the guts of the Stug and you guys are right it's not as complicated as one would think.  the Gears are easily distinguishable, I see the "multi function unit" (is that the receiver board?) which is attached with plug in wiring harnesses (thank goodness I don't have to solder), I see the speaker and the smoke unit. What is that green transister board with all the solder marks and what is it's function? All the wires seem to be attached to the IR Tower adapter, so it's probably a faulty receiver board.

BiggTony

Cool, you got it open.

jollypotatoe

The wiring harness looks okay, except there is one black wire which is attached to the wiring harness (connecting to the board) which is not attached as firmly as the rest of the wires. On the other wires you can only see the plastic wire casing connecting into the harness, but on this black wire the black wire casing is further away and you can see that only part of the wire is attached to the harness, the other part of the wire is half off. I took a push pin and tried to push the copper wire into the harness better but it still looks not to be as secure as the rest of the wires on the harness. that could be a possible cause. Thanks for the picture of the harness, my harness looks a little different, the wires are attached to the harness not with solder but are slid into a metal clip inside the harness. The black wire is only partially in the clip so maybe its not a good connection? oops.......now the black wire fell out. ...Know I really got to figure out a way to stick it back in tight!

jollypotatoe

took the metal clip out of the wiring harness and replaced the wobbly black wire firmly back into the harness. Tested the tank battle system and it still doesn't receive hits from my KV-1. So I guess it's probably a faulty receiver board, the infrared tower looks to be connected solidly enough.

YHR

Let them know you found a loose wire and ask for a new wiring harness as well.

jollypotatoe

thanks for the advice, I will email them for the harness.

jollypotatoe

The guys at RC Dynasty are really helpful, they are going to send me a new receiver board and a new harness and stand by their tank if I can't get it working on my own. That's pretty good customer service.

oztruck

Is the switch in the loaders hatch on the Stug turned on ?

jollypotatoe

I'm not sure what you mean by the switch on the loaders hatch? where's the loaders hatch (top of tank somewhere?) there are only 2 hatches that I see. The circular hatch where the infrared tower goes and a rectangular hatch beside it where the machine gun is mounted in front of it. I don't see any switches other than the on/off switch and the smoke switch on the bottom of the tank.

Panther G

There is a switch under the rectangular hatch on the top of the turret. This is used to enable/disable the airsoft gun. It may still be used too turn on or off the battle system. I'm glad we have been some help. Most of us post everyday, and we are all happy to welcome and help new members as best we can. We where all new in the beginning, and most of us including my self learned it all here. I am still learning something new all the time from these guys.

oztruck

I have a HL IR stug, The switch I was talking about is under the rectangular hatch on mine, it is very small and is used to turn on and off the IR

jollypotatoe

I'm looking all over for this switch your talking about, I just can't seem to find it. Maybe my tank is different than yours, or maybe I'm just overlooking it. I took some pictures of my tank for you to take a look at so maybe you can show me were this switch is, but I'm not sure how to upload the pictures to this website. When I try to upload the pictures it's asking me for a  script prompt for the"URL of the image". Huh?
Is it possible for you to describe the switch again or post a picture of the switch.
When I open the 2 split doors on the rectangular hatch on top of the turret the only thing I see inside the hatch are 2 small screws and a small rectangular hole. When I look on the outside I cant see any switches? 
We are talking about the same tank I think?
Here is the tank I bought except I didn't get the metal upgrade.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-1-16-R-C-Stug-Ausf-F-8-III-Tank-Plus-Metal-upgrade_W0QQitemZ390149926848QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRa dio_Control_Vehicles?hash=item5ad6bf6fc0

oztruck

The small rectangular hole in the front R/H side under the square hatch is where the switch is on mine. They do change the way they do things, I have had my stug for a while now. Hope you get to the bottom of this and all works out well for you in the end.

jollypotatoe

Yeah, looks like that where they used to put the switch in that small retangular hole inside the hatch.My tank ismissing that switch. i guess the new one doesn't come with the switch anymore, either that or it missing and the tank is permamently turned off. I doubt it,but anything is possible. Hopefully when I get my new board and harness it wil all work out too. Thanks for the response.