[Tomhugill]

Hey guys,

I've had the open panzer setup installed successfully in my E90 for a couple months now, I installed fairly recently an rctankauZ tiger ring reciver, so far so good, all worked as it should, lights flashed when I turned her on and to indicate reload. Got her out this morning to try before our club meet tomorrow and no sign of indicator lights, test fired with two other tanks (which were tested working) and nothing, tried another rctankauZ reciver nothing, swapped a cable over and worked but when I swapped back nothing again. Finally I took out a tamiya battle system from another tank an nothing again. I think early.in the test I hear hit sound but not 100%. So I think ive ruled out an issue with the battle system as it's fine in my other tank and the proven working systems aren't working in the e90. So any ideas what the issue could be? Is there anything on the config software that can force the indicator lights on just to test? Answers on a post card?

[LukeZ]

Hi Tom, it's not entirely clear from your description, but are you just having issues with the indicator lights on the Apple ring? In other words, IR sending and receiving work, but the notification LEDs don't?

I have not tried the RCTanksAustralia ring with the TCB before, you are probably the first person. The Tamiya Apple comes with current-limiting resistors built-in, but from the description page at RCTA it's unclear whether the Tiger Ring does or not. The TCB provides 5 volts to the indicator LEDs with no current-limiting, so you definitely want to check with RCTA if any resistors need to be added. The pinout on the Tiger ring does seem to be the same as the Tamiya (which is the same as the TCB) so that's good, but it won't hurt to double check your connections.

What could be of use to you in troubleshooting is to connect the TCB in your E90 to OP Config in Snoop mode and then fire at it from your other models. Snoop will tell you if you are receiving hits, regardless of whether your indicator LEDs are working or not. If Snoop shows no hits then make sure you have the right IR protocol selected or swap back to the Tamiya Apple and see if that fixes it.

Is there anything on the config software that can force the indicator lights on just to test?

Yes, you want to check the option "Blink all lights when Radio signal lost" on the Lights tab of OP Config. Then you can just turn your radio off and your apple lights will blink light crazy, so that's a good way to test they're working.


I'm sure we can figure out the problem, and from your description it sounds like you had it working at one point, which is promising. We just need to narrow down exactly what is working and what is not, and under what exact conditions.

[LukeZ]

I just noticed on the RCTA Panther ring page there are photos of both the top and the bottom of the ring. I see no resistors anywhere on the board. Unfortunately he provides no specifications for the LEDs he uses, but if they are common types it's quite possible you may have burned them out. This could explain why they worked initially but then quit, an LED can handle over-current for a while but will eventually self-destruct.

An email to RCTA is in order I think...

[Tomhugill]

Hey Luke, just checked and the voltage in on the tiger ring board is shown as 5v so should be no issue?

[LukeZ]

If you're looking at what's printed on the board as shown on the RCTA page (attached below), the "5V+" label is voltage to the IR receiver which is a different component than the indicator LEDs. Almost all IR receivers operate at 5 volts so that is what we would expect.

Most LEDs however do not operate at 5 volts, and there is nothing on the board that indicates what voltage those LEDs require. All I see is "L-"  which would indicate the negative terminal for the LED connection (the unmarked fifth pin is presumably the positive terminal for the LEDs). So we know the LED polarity, but we don't know the LED voltage. The TCB provides 5 volts but almost certainly a limiting resistor is needed to bring the voltage down to probably something like 2-3 volts for those LED. The TCB doesn't include those resistors because it has no idea in advance what kind of LED you might use. If you use the Tamiya apple which most people would, the resistors are already built-in so there again having extra resistors on the TCB board would only make things worse.

Ask the RCTA guy to give you the specifications for those LEDs. He really should have included them with the product and posted them on his product page.

[Tomhugill]

Just tried my spare panther ring and leds seek.very hot when flashing constantly. Assuming standard led voltage what resister do I need to prevent burn out? Also would it be fair to assume the IR recivers should still be working even if the LEDs have failed?

On the tiger ring the 5th wire is redundant

[LukeZ]

There is no standard LED voltage, they are all over the map. That is why you need to ask RCTA what the specs are, then you will know for sure. If they are getting hot that is definitely not good.

Yes, I believe the IR receiver will still work regardless of the LEDs. As I said before, you can confirm using Snoop.

I am not sure I would agree the 5th wire is redundant on the Tiger Ring. Does RCTA say that? Where do the LEDs get their positive voltage signal?

Again, we need more information from RCTA. Until then we're just making wild guesses and burning up electronics.

[Rad_Schuhart]

I emailed Kevin, the owner of RCTA regarding this. I have a tiger ring too and Im going to use it with the open panzer board.

I will give you news as soon as I have them.

[Rad_Schuhart]

News!

http://rctanksaustralia.com/forum1/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=68