Hi All.
Another Newby with a problem I am afraid. My Heng Long Berlin model arrived today ( dark grey with extra accessories, metal gears tracks and s/s) and after charging for 7 1/2 hours fired her up and to my delight she went-----for about 2 minutes. Switched herself off.
Switched the power off and on and the lights came on without flashing and stayed that way. Pressing the start button has no effect but strangely the smoke will still turn on and the pump really seems to be turning loudly.
As I bought the tank from Germany and live in England could do with avoiding returns but may be unavoidable
Any ideas guys? Anyone else bought a "Berlin". Looks and feels incredible with metal tracks but looking is about all I can do now!

Try a different battery, make sure it charged properly. It might be the board. Order up another and swap it out. Much less expensive then shipping the tank back.

If putting in another, well-charged battery does not solve the problem, it could be that the problem exists inside of the transmitter. If the tank is not receiving a signal from the transmitter, the lights on the tank should just continually flash, when turned on. Since the tank lights are on and not flashing, it sounds like the signal is going to the tank. You might check the metal tabs (the battery terminals) inside of the transmitter to make sure you are getting a good, steady connection. If that does not work, I would look inside of the transmitter to see if there is an obvious problem, like a loose wire or a poor connection.

Jason

I haven't had my Heng Longs that long but would definitly look into the battery first as was already suggested. When my battery is low I get a variety of differnt failures on my tanks and it's different each time. If you can't figure it out though, I would definitly just buy another Smoke and Sounds tank for parts. If you use it for any length of time your gonna need spare parts anyway and it gives you a chance to check out your tank in depth. Switch the upgraded parts over to the new tank after you confirmed it works.

Don't add to much oil to the smoker if you haven't already read. I killed 2 smokers already this way[:@]. Figured they must burn out from being run two low on oil and then I read some posts hear AFTER I added oil to mine that the most common problem is to much oil. Maybe I can take it out with a syringe of some sort?

Don

One more idea from a fellow newby. Is you antenna on the tank? If your inside and in close proximity to the tank keep the transmitter antenna down. I get dead spot in confined areas when I use mine.

Good Luck!!

Hi All.
Thanks for ideas. Charged up a new 3700mah battery overnight and tried it this morning. The lights came on again without flashing and then the gun started going up and down and the tracks started spining in random fashion forwards/back/side which is quite alarming as the hand set was not on. Switching on the handset made no diffrence and had no control. Also makes a slight buzzing sound when switched on and clicks. This is with the smoke off. As soon as I switch the smoke on it smokes! I think its having death throes.
Cheers

Always have your transmitter on first. Well it sounds like everything is working properly! Did you check your transmitter for loose wiring? Could still be a dirty, faulty board. Get your soldering irorn out!

Swathdiver,
is this one broke during the same offense?

1 --(controller off) when switching on the tank the lights do not flash ?

to make the lights stay "on" ,(start engine)you need to use the controller .
light should `nt be "on" when switching "on" the tank,they should flash(controller off).if they do not flash (controller off) i think it is your circuit board inside the tank that is burned(dead)like my 1 one.

2--- does your controller have a crystal on the front or a switch a-b-c?

3--- some rechargeable batteries are too big for the controller,it makes a stress on the circuit board inside(test: play and squeeze controller).

here is my fan solution for this problem :

Could he be getting interference on the same channel that his tank receives?

It's been a long time since that has happened to me but when it does the vehicle behaves wildly as if it is possessed.

-Harq

Thanks for your ideas on this one. Tried it again this morning and all the happens is the lights come on when I switch on the tank and stay on -- no flashing. The remote has no effect whatever button is pressed. Control is crystal type
My gut feeling is that something inside the Tank has fried. Bought from Asiatam in Germany. Not getting much response re returning. As it only lasted 2 minutes I think they should replace.
Anyone had dealings with this company?
If it is the circuit board is this an east item to replace. Will it be visible damage. Any idea of coast? Do not really want to take apart until I have to as may invalidate any warranty I have.

Your circuit board is fried. My First smoke & sound tank did the same thing after 20 minutes. Every time I turned it on, the smoke would go and the darn thing would only turn in one direction. It would not respond to any controls. Then the turret startd cycling and would not stop.

Once I opened up the case I found a burned out transistor and other chips close to it. I ordered a new board from Mato Toys, installed it and this time disconnected the smoke feature and every thing has been fine since. I didn't like the smoke anyways. It smells bad and and lingers for a long time indoors.

Hope this helps.

Buy a replacement board, buy two. They are about $15 plus freight.

Thanks for your advise. I have ordered a "receiver board" from Mato online. Just hope they deliver to UK.
There site said this was their 3rd best selling product so must be a slight weak-point !
Is this an easy job to fit for someone who can handle a screwdriver but has never taken apart a remote control tank?
Will you guys be able to talk me through fitting it when it arrives (please)
The missus thinks I bust everything I take apart and i only tell her when I have no alternative!
Cheers

seams that chinesse transistors are weak (overheating),the ones on the board fries easely (heatsink too small for 4 transistors),and the one on the smoking unit too(fries).
have notice that the numbers printed on some chips on the circuit board are different then the one on the replacement board,maybe a trick to sell another board.
nova hobby (Canada) sell some circuit boards and tanks cheaper than matotoys(shipping cheaper too).ex:t-34 tank wsn 45.00$(Can)
you can find him on ebay ,
http://search.ebay.ca/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQf...sZnovaQ2dhobby

ask for a replacement mixer board.

Tigher Tamer:

You will have to do some sodering. I don't remember exactly but I thing it was the motor wires. You get the wire harness and the sound board with the main circuit board. So, anything else that doesn't come with it, you will probably have to reconnect to the new board.

I hope Tiger Tamer will bear with me since this is not related to his failure, but since ths smoker removal subject was brought up, this is to Riff raff,or anyone else with smoke and sound. My walker bulldog s-s should arrive Wednsday, I noticed a lot of you disconect the smoker altogther, I guess due to extra drain on board, is it not enough to just leave the smoke unit off? Or is a disconnect the only fix? I dont care that much about the smoke, wanted that version for better drivability, you know the near proportional 10 speed deal. Thanks in advance...

Hi tiger Tamer,

Most of us on the Heng Long trail have ahd to do this sooner or later...........there are lots of threads covering this
PEC replacement on ths forum so don't worry............lots of help is at hand and in any case, it is not rocket science
so I am sure you will manage..........it is worth doing as the S & S HL tanks are great fun, and fixing them is fun too....

Tally ho

CaptB

Rathead123:

I disconnected mine as an extra precaution. The switch on mine is not very clear whether it is ON or OFF. When I first received my tank and turned the power on, it immediately started to smoke. When I thought I turned it OFF, it still spoked. The instruction book is of no value for anything because it was barely in comprehensible English. It was just simpler to just unplug it verses removing the unit all together.

When I received my second tank, before installing the battery, I disconnected the smoke unit. I did not care if it worked or not. I just wanted to make sure that I did not get tempted to try it.

Can you run the power leads of the smoker to the motors?

This way one can bypass the board and draw power from one the motors.

Just a thought

CJ:

The motor is wired to the board so if you wire the smoker to the motor, you are still drawing power through the board. Maybe it the tank will be slowed down by half since the motor will be splitting it's power with the smoker?? The other problem is that now you won't have the separate switch to turn off the smoker.

Hi all

You can get spares, replacement parts if all else fails and you can't get it replaced here:

http://www.tankzone.co.uk/cart/tz_henglong.htm

Not affliated, related to them in any possible way, there are quite a few in business, just
that this one has quite alot of comprehensive upgrades and parts as well as replacement
ones.

Good luck and happy tanking!!

I thought all of these were "tested" by Mato for reliability before he ships them out? That's what everyone on here claims at least.

Mato should ship these things with some spare boards and such on the house. He's making enough off the tanks and the shipping anyway.

Hi All

Charging the Batteries no longer then 5 Hours whith the orignal charger.
They can drive appx. 450-500mA .
If the batterie is heat ,after that its a short time to die.

kindly regards

I just emailed them about their shipping... nice prices... will be higher for us in the U.S. but not by much..

The metal suspension parts was the eye catcher for me..and the smoke launchers which I lost one of mine the 4 day I owned my tank..

P.S.

If anybody has a spare smoke launcher....please contact me!


Mark