[laanwj]

I'm new to RC tanks. After some searching and comparing I decided to give Open Panzer TCB a try.

I bought the Open Panzer TCB, a FrSky tanaris Q X7, a X4RSB and some other basic stuff.

After going through all the basics like configuring the transmitter (the additional channels/switches/potentiometers needed to be "enabled" and mapped to channels), installing OP CONFIG, updating the TCB firmware, configuring the radio, all is working when connected to the USB port.

After saving the settings (and retrieving to verify them) all is fine.

When disconnected from the USB port and connected to a battery, I cannot get the TCB to respond to the transmitter.

When using the gimbals there is no response from the TCB, meaning no red or green led lighting up when using the throttle or direction gimbal (or any other control on the transmitter).

I found a thread on how to get in snoop mode. The output after clicking in the snoop button:

<- 31|31|0|-28996
-> Waiting for radio...
Radio Ready - SBus

---------------------------------------------
FIRMWARE VERSION: 0.92.21

---------------------------------------------
RADIO INFO - SBus
---------------------------------------------
Stick       Min    Center   Max    Deadband  Reversed
---------------------------------------------
Throttle    988    1503     2011    15        FALSE
Turn        988    1500     2011    15        FALSE
Elevation  1023    1484     1976    15        FALSE
Azimuth    1023    1497     1961    15        FALSE

Aux Chan.   Min     Max     Type
---------------------------------------------
1           988     2011    Digital
2           988     2011    Digital
3           988     2011    Digital
4           988     2011    Analog
5           988     2011    Analog
6           988     2011    Digital
7           988     2011    Digital
8           988     2011    Digital
9           IGNORED
10          IGNORED
11          IGNORED
12          IGNORED
---------------------------------------------
Channels detected: 16
Channels utilized: 12

---------------------------------------------
MOTOR TYPES
---------------------------------------------
Drive Motors:      Onboard Motor Driver
Turret Rotation:   Pan Servo
Barrel Elevation:  Pan Servo
Mechanical Barrel: Mechanical recoil (Enabled)

---------------------------------------------
DRIVE SETTINGS
---------------------------------------------
Vehicle Type:           Tank
Active Driving Profile: 1
Accel Ramp Enabled:     Yes (Level: 4, Preset: None)
Decel Ramp Enabled:     Yes (Level: 4, Preset: None)
Motor Nudge Enabled:    No
Forward Speed Limited:  No
Reverse Speed Limited:  Yes - 70%
Transmission Type:      Automatic
Shift Time:             1.0 sec
Engine Pause Time:      1.0 sec
Transmission Delay:     2.0 sec
Neutral Turn Allowed:   Yes - 50%
Turn Mode:              2
Track Recoil Enabled:   No

---------------------------------------------
TURRET SETTINGS
---------------------------------------------
Turret Rotation Speed Limited:  No
Barrel Elevation Speed Limited: No
Recoil delay:                   No

---------------------------------------------
BATTLE INFO
---------------------------------------------
Is Repair Tank?   No
Fire Protocol:    Tamiya
Hit Protocol 2:   N/A
Repaired by:      IBU Repair
Send MG IR Code:  No
Accept MG Damage: No
Damage Profile:   Tamiya Spec
Weight Class:     Custom
(1 cannon hits, 10 MG hits, 1.5 sec reload, 8.0 sec recovery)

---------------------------------------------
SOUND CARD
---------------------------------------------
Sound card: Benedini TBS Mini

---------------------------------------------
INERTIAL MEASUREMENT UNIT
---------------------------------------------
Sensor not detected!

---------------------------------------------
FUNCTION TRIGGERS
---------------------------------------------
Turret stick functions: Yes
Turret movement delay:  0.35 sec
Turret Stick - Top Left       -> Function #1   - Engine - Toggle On/Off
Turret Stick - Bottom Left    -> Function #4   - Transmission - Toggle On/Off
Turret Stick - Top Right      -> Function #7   - Cannon Fire
Turret Stick - Bottom Right   -> Function #16  - Light 1 (Headlights) - Toggle On/Off

---------------------------------------------
BATTERY
---------------------------------------------
Battery Detected: No
LVC Enabled:      No

---------------------------------------------
BAUD RATES
---------------------------------------------
USB Serial Baud:   115200
Motor Serial Baud: 38400
Aux Serial Baud:   115200
Serial 3 Tx Baud:  38400

---------------------------------------------
RADIO FAILSAFE
Radio Ready - SBus

When disconnecting the receiver the red and green leds start blinking as expected.
The snoop screen is dumping following lines:
RADIO FAILSAFE

And after connecting the radio:
Radio Ready - SBus

When shutting down the transmitter, the red and green leds start blinking, the X4RSB red led is blinking.
Message in the snoop screen : RADIO FAILSAFE

After switching on the transmitter the receiver binds (green led blinking), the red and green leds on the TCB switch off and the snoop screen gives message : Radio Ready - SBus

But as said, no response from the controls on the transmitter.

I hope someone can help me get the TCB respond.

Best regards,

Wim

[LukeZ]

From your description the TCB is working correctly. It sound to me as if you perhaps have not created any function-trigger pairs on the Functions tab. You need to assign some channel to turn on your engine, and some other channel to fire the cannon, etc...

If you do have functions assigned in OP Config you can let us know what they are, and what peripherals you have attached (ESCs/motor controller/airsoft/whatever) and we can troubleshoot further from there.

[johnnyvd]

And if you need some support in Dutch you can contact me if you want. best is to keep that on this forum so we can help eachother out!

What region are you from if i may ask?Around Arnhem? Maybe you are in the neigbourhood!

[laanwj]

I can report back some progress.

I got some servos in today and connected them to the barrel elevation and recoil RC output.
At least the barrel elevation servo is responding to the left stick up/down movement (in servo- pan mode).

Do I have to configure the right stick movement with the trigger / functions to respond to forward/backward and left/right?

[laanwj]

And if you need some support in Dutch you can contact me if you want. best is to keep that on this forum so we can help eachother out!

What region are you from if i may ask?Around Arnhem? Maybe you are in the neigbourhood!

Hello johnnyvd,

thank you for your response. I live in the Groningen area. I need some understanding of what needs to be done to have TCB respond to the forward/backward and left/right movement stick. I expected this would be standard and could be "customized". The red and green light don't respond to the stick movement. As mentioned in my other reply, the barrel movement servo does respond.

Regards, Wim

[LukeZ]

Your board is working correctly. You need to spend some more time reading the Wiki. Read up on Functions. The board will do whatever you tell it, but yes it can be customized and so far you have not customized it.

Out of the box there are 4 functions assigned to the turret stick. Most people, especially with a Taranis radio, will want to replace these with different channel assignments. From your data dump in your first post I can tell your functions are still set to the default.

---------------------------------------------
FUNCTION TRIGGERS
---------------------------------------------
Turret stick functions: Yes
Turret movement delay:  0.35 sec
Turret Stick - Top Left       -> Function #1   - Engine - Toggle On/Off
Turret Stick - Bottom Left    -> Function #4   - Transmission - Toggle On/Off
Turret Stick - Top Right      -> Function #7   - Cannon Fire
Turret Stick - Bottom Right   -> Function #16  - Light 1 (Headlights) - Toggle On/Off

[laanwj]

Reading the Wiki: I agree.

I can make an update again.

I think I got it.

I cleared the function/trigger list.

Then created a new trigger for engine on/off using AUX1 (2 position toggle switch).
In the snoop window saw the TCB switched the engine on or off when the switch triggered position 2.
The right stick commands (forward/backwards, left/right) will only show when the engine is on.
Wasn't aware of that.

Recoil servo is working when using another trigger and as mentioned before the barrel elevation servo already did work.

That last one is working very smooth after clearing the functions/triggers list. Before it had eratic behavior.

Everything working as advertised ;o)).

Regards,

Wim

[LukeZ]

Glad to hear it! I encourage everyone to read through the entire Wiki, you will learn a lot of things you probably didn't know the board was capable of. I know it is a lot of information but it will reward those who study it.

The erratic behavior you experienced was probably because there was a trigger assigned to the turret stick so as you were moving the barrel elevation it was triggering some functions and interrupting the barrel servo. Since you have a radio with many channels you probably will not want to assign any functions to the turret stick for that reason.