YMFWR electronic project for RC tanks with battle system
 

Hi all,

i'd like to introduce my first electronic project, the YMFWR!

When i battle with my friends i've never been able to count the seconds of the reloading time of my tanks. So i decided to make something that can do the job
I've used an Arduino Nano connected in my TX, a spektrum DX6i.

I'll explain something about it: first of all you must know what an arduino board is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino).
I wrote a scketch for the board (can be downloaded from https://github.com/Murdock73/YMFWR) where, reading from the TX when the tank fires, it turn off a led, count until 9 (or 5) seconds, then turn on again the led.
Here's the schematic of the connection with the TX.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...psa2028b01.jpg


For the connection i've used and modified an HL 10 pin cable.
With a multimeter i've found in my RX (spektrum DX6i) where i can power the board under the control of the power button

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps083b55fc.jpg

Then i can solder the wires without damaging the connectors

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps8d2071ad.jpg

For the potentiometer i soldered the wire in a pin of the firing button

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps111225fe.jpg

then i've installed the tank class switch (5 or 9 seconds) in the hull of the RX

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps17f6abbf.jpg

And finally the LED and the board are in position.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps7d4ac90c.jpg

When I turn on the radio here's the firing LED turned on waiting for the battle!

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps0b1b0799.jpg



Wait a moment! I bet that you want to know what the hell means YMFWR. It means You May Fire When Ready. Naming the project in this way was the only possibility to have the Grand Moff Tarkin as a testimonial for the promotion in the world of this work! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps71a9ac12.jpg

Does it have a three position switch to change timings for light/medium/heavy category reload times?

Edit: Pardon my bad eyes, it is in the electrical schematics.

Me thinks all boards with the exception of the RX18 have this as a feature. Matter of fact most boards you can set the time of reload and refire based on tank weight. Nice job on this though, any chance you could load some leds so it does a countdown?

Believe he's talking about on your TX so you don't have to count in your head till your next shot? Visual timers are nice but you still have to take your eye off the battlefield, you have to
wire in a cell phone vibration motor so you can get a vibration to tell you when your "up." Some lucky tankers have the VBT in their TX's before the maker left the hobby. Vibrates when your ready for your next shot and you can change between Lt, Md, Hvy to get your timings. Also had a hit count in which if you had the time or remembered you would hit a 3 way when you took a hit, then you can toggle the other way and it would respond in vibration to how many times you were hit. Like said before, nice job on thinking out of the box and furthering the hobby.

Sorry guys but due to the late hour i've made a mistake in the first post writing RX instead of TX in the text (now corrected).

This is the first version of the project and it's open source, so it's possible for me or everyone who wants to add counters, vibration, light class count and so on.

Due to the rush of completing the project I forgot to put the resistance connected to the LED. :mad:

Now I've replaced the burned LED and updated the breadboard diagram....