IR kill distance
 

What is average kill distance for Tamiya IR tank in bright sunlight.
Darryl

Hey Darryl, I'll be watching this one because I just ordered the Impact unit and I have these special IR emitters that Kevin recommended so I'll be able to give you some comparison data.

As for your original topic, are you talking about strictly stock? What the manufacturer claims or guys actual test experience? (I want to know both :) ) I've heard you can file down the emitter LED to reduce the distance from the element to the end of the tube (holding the required 9mm). Does that change range? Anything you need to do after filing, like polishing for clarity? What about shape? Does that effect range?

Good timing on this one, I'm sure I'll get all sorts of useful info. :)

I just want stock IR distance. My own tanks are about 20 feet in bright sunlight. Do any clubs test for
out of specks. I have a emitter for other things that has a range of 75 feet in bright sunlight.
Darryl

We tested indoors in Detroit, El-Mod and Tamiya could shoot over 100ft easily, the DBC (as supplied by the late Blitz) was good for 60-75ft depending on which emitter was used (3mm vs 5mm). I don't think we did any range tests with the Impact emitter, but they claim 120ft.

We also did some outdoors testing in the UK, but this was on a grey cloudy day. My Tamiya Sherman was good for 115ft, and I think one guy managed to get 130ft out of a DBC - but he'd bought a specific emitter and reduced the series resistor to the point that he'd have to replace it once a year due to burn out. As an aside, it was also quite cold that day, and we noticed that the longer our tanks stood outside, the shorter the range due to battery issues.

When we ran in bright sunlight in Detroit (bright sunlight in the UK never happens ;) ), I recall that it was harder to see the TBU (and especially the Impact battle unit) hit LED's light up than it was to score a hit. I do think that you loose a bit of range/beam width, but I never managed to quantify it.

I wouldn't recommend filing the emitter down - at best you'll be unlikely to get a perfectly smooth (or square) surface and not get any improvement, and at worst it could be considered to be attempting to cheat.

On a bright, clear, summer day, here in the Colorado Rockies, I can get hits at 65 ft with my DBC and 70 ft with a stock Tamiya.

I hear that this is standard practice in the land down under. Does anyone know of rules against it? I'm mainly interested in following the rules used at Danville, as I think those are a pretty standard set, but I'm still learning so if anyone wants to educate me it would be most appreciated.

As for making it square and holding a micro finish, come on now, Martin, my friend, you should know me better that that by now. I'll hold perpendicularity to plus or minus half a thou (.0005) at the end of the tube, and I should be able to achieve a finish under a 10 micro pretty easily on plastic.

I don't want to break any rules, but just like every G.I. that's ever gone into battle from the beginning of time I want my weapon to perform to it's maximum capabilities at all times. Just like the gunslingers would file down the front sight on a Peacemaker just for that millionth of a second advantage it gave them. Like Josey Wales says, "It always pays to have an edge".

There's no rules against it as far as I know, but the whole club level philosophy in the US is to be fair and reasonable to the other guys. As soon as one guy starts to do something to gain an edge, everybody else either has to catch up or get out of the hobby.

Gary, by this logic your ok with the fan and lag shot as well?

I'm pretty much OK with whatever the rules say, as long as they're the same for everyone. I just want my tank to be the best that I can make it.

I've got enough emitters, maybe I'll do some testing, just to see if it even makes a difference. I'm wondering if the shape of the LED helps focus the beam or anything else that might affect range. It would be really interesting if you could adjust range for the tank class. I don't think a PIII could score hits as far away as a Tiger, but with IR that's eliminated.

And what about the numbers used to identify the emitters. I think I've heard 920 and 840 something. What difference does that make? Obviously I still have a lot to learn about the tech, long before I get into the whole fair play question.

I've never heard of someone filing down an emitter at Danville.
But I have only been going since 2011.

Generally, I would say it is frowned upon to mess with the emitter in anyway.

Yea, I concur with Dave. Already have enough to keep an eye on with regards to inspections. This is just in the instances of battling at Danville where you need
to get 20-30 tankers each with multiple tanks through inspection. Backyard BBQ fun runs or local club events don't think it would really matter.

Dan had a page built about this
http://battlearmorrc.weebly.com/ir-r...djustment.html

That's very interesting, and something I like the sound of. I just wonder if you could get the hardware to act consistently.

So now I know that messin' with the emitter is not cool by ... what? ... Danville Standard U.S. Rules of Engagement? :) I'm cool with that and it saves me work. I'll just make the tube for 9mm from the tip of the unmodified emitter. I still might play around with them (if I can find time, which is doubtful) just for curiosity.

So what about the number thing? Mine are 890NM radial. Anybody care to educate me on that? I think I heard stock Tamiya is 920NM?

And does anyone think there's a difference between brass and aluminum tubing? Or plastic? Would polishing the inside of the tube help? These are the kinds of things I mean when I say I want the tank to be as good as I can make it. Does anyone think I'm getting off topic? Should I start a different thread?

To answer the OP's question, the equipment has the capacity to make hits at 100ft but positioning and timing would have to be perfect. I feel that 60ft or less is more the average distance for consistent hits. Keep in mind testing with two stationary tanks vs. two tanks in an actual situation moving and maneuvering will yield quite different results.

And with regard to Danville battle rules, perhaps you should start a new thread on it. I had a bit of an initiation when I first rocked up two years ago and can share my experience and observation which hopefully helps you.

As far as Danville goes, anything other than a stock length unmodified emitter may draw unwanted attention. The Tamiya battle system specs is pretty much the standard. As long as the system you are running is compatible or equal too , you should be fine. The distances that you are going to see on most battle fields is in the forty too sixty foot mark most times anyway. if you can minimize the scatter that is all you really need. 100 ft is probably going to be the longest shot you will ever see in all practical cases but by then you are probably going to get multiple hits if other tanks are near your target and that too is when you will see complaints that is why it is best to have the inside of the tube painted black to cut down on the refraction on the emitter.