New Next Gen ELMod Boards Coming Out
 

Introducing ElMod FusionX and ElMod 4WD

https://elmod.eu/generation-change-i...iwdWIYZKEr7OFo

Thanks
Jimmy


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Looks like step back - no more external ESCs, no more brushless motors.

It is indeed a step back.
Also no servo controllers.
No auxiliar light.
No turret machine gun.
More expensive.

And mistakes from the past are being kept. Still, I preffer it way way more than any tamiya electronics, but is definitely a step back from the older version :(

But it looks very very compact

The high price is what kept me from trying an Elmod before this, and looking at the price of the new truck board I can see that nothing has changed. Maybe if it will go outside and cut the grass after I get done playing with it I might think about buying one, but other than that I can't see one in my future.

No external ESCs is a bit daft if you have some heavy tanks.

A missed opportunity I guess.

P

The tech data say 2x15A, 2x30A peak current

Boards for trucks? Perhaps the upgrade for the Fusion Pro will be next? Are they being dragged down due to the cheaper opposition, not everyone wants to experiment with all the custom functions and sounds. Plug and play with common settings for all tanks and a few sound sets are all most people want, look at the builds .

UPDATE JUST FOUND THIS https://elmod.eu/produkt/fx-expander/?lang=en

We have servos with this plugin.

The FX expander looks good , most servo leads are short . This gives you extra length to remove the upper without straining the servo leads.

Guys, you forget you can easily Y-cable ANY board that has PWM input like that. Just Y off the cable for the ESC and run that direct to the ESC and board. You will lose a few things like inertia and momentum (if that board supports it) however you can always add expo to mimic inertia a bit. This saves on the board design and considering not many use external ESCs (just us regular guys) it isn't much for us to add one. On the manufacturer's side I can see why this was omitted as it isn't that hard to recreate on the user's side and cuts down on support for that feature. Any time a customer introduces an unknown variable to the mix it gets difficult for support to diagnose and fix.
I think its not bad actually, hopefully I get to try one!

In this case is not that easy. Elmod boards do have inertia, but also have some gear change simulation system, it really feels like a heavy vehicle. It means it takes time to start moving and to brake (up to one meter even whith the brakes set to full power!), but also when driving fowards it changes the gear up to three times and you can feel it like when driving a manual car: it decelerates (like when you press the clutch), makes the gear change sound and then accelerates again. That would be a hell to 99,9% of users to program with the radio and I don't think you could match it with the motor sounds that the board makes. Not counting most users at least in the US seems to still use 4ch non programmable craptaba radios.

Anyway I have some love/hate with that function, it is super cool, you drive your tank in very a realistic way so you will never see king tigers jackrabitting like they do in Danvile battles, but at the other hand sometimes I need to disable that function and that is not possible. That annoys me like hell and causes many crashes, specially when my children drive or when we go to a meeting with several vehicles around.

But I do understand the lack of external ESCs, because almost nobody uses it, but removing lights is not acceptable for me. I expected to have even more, so no point in having now half of them :( And then the price, my godness...

So elmod don't have function to turn inertia off from radio? Strange, even IBU have this option.

And I also never understand fun of IR battles when tanks move like F1 race cars. It should be like World of Tanks or War Thunder - arcade fun but with realistic speed and movement. Slow movement and inertia is, apart from sounds, is for me the best thing on modern boards.

The inertia feature? Its just like driving a car, you need to think in advance. Checking the road ahead and adjusting speed to suit, the Elmod has a safety feature to cancel the inertia its the brake . As for IR battles, i have asked on another forum about the IR emitter tube and the spread of the signal no one answered.. Tried a test using a 12 inch long 5mm brass tube and a 5 inch aluminium 8 mm tube to trigger the tv sensor. The brass tube was a narrow beam, almost had to aim directly at spot. The aluminium one was hitting within a 12 inch circle of the IR on the tv . Would imagine that the short tube in an RC battle tank must have a wider cone signal .

Elmod boards have loads of functions but for some reason it is not possible to disable the inertia. The Elmod guy refuses to implement that function. I like it most of the time but sometimes is a real need to disable it and is not possible, neither from radio, computer or bluetooth. :(

With that safety brake adjusted to 100% of power, it still takes one meter to brake when full speed, so I find it unnaceptable. Not always you can think in advance and is not so easy when driving over rough surfaces, or with children, or if you are in a RC truck diorama with 50 toys or more moving around.

you have 2 brake settings
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Yes man, and with both to maximum, still takes a lot to brake. And inertia and gear change cannot be disabled neither, even the minimum sometimes is too much.

I guess the guys at Elmod don't read the forums because I know that I refuse to buy any board where the inertia cannot be disabled and I know there are many, many RC tankers out there that are just like me. This has been discussed on several different forums and if the manufacturers would simply take the time to see what their customers are saying they would know but they need to make the inertia so it can be disabled. I'm still not sure if you can disable the inertia on the newer IBUs. There was a lot of discussion about it and I've heard different reports. Some say that Ivano fixed that and you can now disable the inertia, some say that he hasn't and the boards are still exactly the same. Until I know for sure I won't even buy another IBU and that's my very favorite board, next to the asp.

And I can see why the major tank manufacturers don't pay much attention because their main Market is the toy Market, but the people that are making aftermarket boards are making those boards specifically for guys like us so I really think they should be paying attention to what we have to say. But, what I think doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

Have you emailed Thomas at elmod? I have found he is very responsive and would likely explain why they aren't set up to disable inertia.

It sounds like Rad has already contacted him, as he stated above that the guy at elmod refuses to implement a feature to shut down the inertia.

Yes, I did it, several times.
I also contacted some guys who make the sound sets for him.
No luck.

So I sold all my Elmods except one, and then upgraded with Beier.

Did he say why? Is it technical? Philosophical? A bit of both?

Would bet that his main market is Germany. If the model tank board does not replicate the way that a tank moves(.the drive settings in the app gives you a idea of what they want ) it would not sell.
They want the best available even if its at a high cost, after all its a hobby and many don't mind spending the money.

Well for the gear shifting that is fairly easy too, just set up dual rates to limit max travel. If you are lucky and have something like OpenTX you can set multiple D/R settings and have as many gears as you want in theory right?
I know this bypasses the momentum and/or inertia but once again its an easy way to shift gears and with some expo it can definitely help with softening the middle of the stick range.

Is not that simple, and is not like the virtual gear change system that I had the idea to use for the Open panzer board, this gear change needs to change at the same point that the Elmod makes the clutch and motor sounds. It is, definitelly complicated, and more if you consider 99% tankers have never heard about "OpenTx" but anyway, if you are getting one board, I recommend you to get the Fusion Pro version. And if you can really synch radio wizzardy with the elmod sounds and drive the tank exactly as the board does; I'd really want to see the how to, there is always something else to learn!

Yea at that point you might want to look into something like a Voltage to PWM converter right? Then you could just go from that board to an ESC and "technically" it should work (like that ever happens first try in hobbies right?).

I admit external ESCs may not be popular but on a heavy 1:16 tank or a 1:10...... 15 A isnt that much really.....ELmod is stuck in 1:16 world maybe?

The Open Panzer boards had external ESCs as a selling point! Thats why I have three.

So they cannot be that unpopular...... And popular or not....Id rather have the option and not need it than need it and not have it.

P

No servo connections is a total deal breaker for me.

They do have Expander cards for SBus , Battle Apples and Servos


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This new boards main advantage is its a smaller unit, not having servos on the board has lead to some confusion . Its amazing how rumours spread, i wonder how may people scrolled down Bowlmans Elmod link and stopped at the image of the board and and dismissed it, never read on about its other modules.:o Just shows you how the internet works .

I did look at everything that goes with it and I have always thought the elmod boards were overpriced, and now they made it so you have to buy the main board for 235 euros and then the accessory boards which are anywhere from 12 to 40 euros. Since I have to drive at least 900 miles to get to a tank Battlefield I think I'll just stick with the h l 6.0 series. Much cheaper, does everything I need it to do, and I don't have to buy anything extra for it.

Hi Crius Yes they are expensive , for me its the way the program works . Getting the tanks to behave like a miniature version of the real one is why i buy them .The Bieir ones have good reviews ,but i run a Mac and its a joy to program via the Elmod app. Bieir are windows , had an IBU and never liked its software. Beier are also into the add-on game. For all the upmarket boards its looking like its going to be a base board and modules to improve features in the future. I bought one of the old Fusion PRO units a few weeks ago, i f i had known about the new ones i would have waited.

Whenever a new version of something comes out I first remember that no one likes change, we are all Luddites at heart.
Second, I try to consider the maker’s viewpoint. This, of course, is always a bit of guess work. Previously they had two fusion boards: eco for one servo and pro for three servos. They had no option for having no servos. One thing I have noticed over the years is that people hate to buy features they have no intention of using. I wonder how often they heard from people saying they liked the boards except they had no intention to use servos and would buy if only they sold a board without servo ports. I know, people can just ignore the servo support, but many don't think that way. Buying a feature they wont use just grates on them. The same goes for other features that came lumped in the eco/pro boards.
Now servo support and a number of additional light features are added with an additional small board for those that want them.
Another add on small battle board supports all the major makers where I believe they sold three different add on boards before.
One very nice thing is the significant decrease in the size of the new boards. Something I suspect I will appreciate as the next model I am working on is a t-34.
From their company’s viewpoint the changes seem reasonable. How well they have judged their market, time will tell. I plan to try one of the new boards in the new year.

In my opinion new verisio nis addressed mainly to Heng Long and Taigen owners for simple plug and play swap.

Disagree. I have read the entire website and then downloaded the manuals and read them too, including even the accesories manuals, and definitelly this new elmod board is worse than the oldest version and very expensive. The beier is way way superior in every aspect. Like me, many forum members, specially from germany who have both boards, are writting the same. There is not a single thing that the elmod board does better than the Beier, or at least, I cannot find it. If the main advantage of this new elmod unit is being smaller... well, I the Beier SFR 1 HL is even smaller, doing much more.

I got one last spring for my M51 Sherman i've not started on yet could of waited myself but will get the new board an its expanders for my next build after the M51 I do have a extra Open Panzer board i've not used yet and one that first came out with the bad lighting chips could use on a none battle vehicle .
Thanks
Jimmy

I realize that my opinion on this board probably has very little importance but having absolutely no servo outputs on a modern board is stupid as hell. I love my Elmod Fusion Pro for my Initial Production Tiger 1 but my Civil War gunboat has a Beier Board and any future tanks I may end up getting will have Beier boards as well.

Anyone have a link to the Beier boards and perhaps to a representative of Beier in the US?