1

TCB Dev / Re: Pick and Place (centroid) file for PCB production

« on: January 02, 2026, 03:11:43 PM »

Thank you!

2

TCB Dev / Pick and Place (centroid) file for PCB production

« on: January 01, 2026, 08:49:37 PM »

Hello,
I'm trying to order a few boards through PCBWay production service and they asked for a "pick and place" (centroid) file

I do not see anything like this available on the downloads page, is it possible you can provide it here ?

Thanks!

3

Other Open Source Projects / Re: Standalone Tank IR

« on: December 23, 2025, 08:48:20 PM »

WOW!! OK I've figured out the problem....

It looks like the IR LED for my Battle system was wired up polarity REVERSED

Here's what I did to test...

First, I tested a TSAL6200 with a 3V CR2032 cell battery to verify the "long lead" was anode\+ and short was cathode\- and I could see the TSAL6200 IR LED with the camera on my phone.

Next I unplugged the Tamiya Battle System IR LED from the MFU and shoved a couple wire jumpers into the connector. The IR LED connector wires were Red on Left and White on Right respectively.

> (Stock) Red on Left White on Right_s.jpg
> MFU Connector Red Left White Right_s.jpg
> IR LED with Jumpers_s.jpg

Using the 3V CR2032 cell battery, I was able to verify the IR LED still worked with Red (Left) being anode\+, and White (Right) being cathode\-.

> IR LED CR2032 Red Positive White Ground_s.jpg
> IR LED CR2032 Red Positive White Ground Jumpers_s.jpg

I had downloaded a wiring reference diagram for the MFU previously and referencing it showed that the "Right pin is +" for the IR LED connector on CN2

> Tamiya MFU wiring.jpg

So this was the first indication that something was wired up wrong!

I plugged the Tamiya IR LED back into the CN2 socket and then just jammed the TSAL6200 legs into the molex connector of the TBS IR LED, with anode\+ on the RIGHT as per the wiring diagram. Sure enough, when I pressed the cannon button, I could see the TSAL6200 light up on my phone camera!!

Only thing left to do was to swap the Red\White cable of the molex connector for the Tamiya IR LED and test it with the TankIR.

It worked! When I pressed the cannon button on my radio, I could see the Tamiya IR LED light up on my phone camera and when I tested it against the TankIR on Arduino pro mini (compiled from 2.3.7 with low memory warning etc etc) it registered the hit from my tank first try.

I think it's pretty crazy that this IR LED was wired up wrong but all evidence points to it having been reversed.

It's also kind of odd because the color coding of the cables is inconsistent, for example the cable for the lighting system in CN5 has a Blue\White cable, where White is on the Right (+) and it works fine. However the MG in CN3 has White\Orange with White on the left and Orange going to +.

Triple checking with the product page on the Tamiya website the photo of the product shows as the correct wiring with Red toward what would be the Right of the connector when plugged in looking from the front of the MFU, so it would appear that mine is soldered correctly to the legs of the IR LED but just was assembled incorrectly into the molex

https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/116-tank/rc-116-tank-led-battle-system/

4

Other Open Source Projects / Re: Standalone Tank IR

« on: December 23, 2025, 01:27:32 PM »

Hi Luke thanks so much for the quick replies and I apologize, I should have included this additional information in my last post.

I'm using the Arduino Pro Mini 5V/16MHz, it's just a clone board from ebay but when the board is plugged in by USB (using FTDI),  I tested the VCC with multimeter and it's outputting 4.9V, so I'm fairly confident it is a true 5V board.

I do also have Arduino Nano and I ran all the same tests with IRTank sketch and ReceiveDump on the Nano with the exact same results.

With both the Pro Mini and the Arduino Nano, I used a Sony remote control (for an A/V unit) and fired it at the IR decoder. ReceiveDump received around 32bits on each "shot" and correctly identified the protocol as being from "Sony". In fact, in TankIR sketch, when I also "shoot" the IR decoder, it also sees the IR and identifies it as "Sony" protocol.

I have an Arduino UNO R4 , but I did not test it with that yet but will probably do that next.

Unfortunately I don't have another Tamiya tank at the moment to test my Sherman with, that's why I was wanting to build a little tester.

The Sherman is "brand new" and I just got it a couple months ago and built it, but one other strange thing I noticed is usually with the "IR LEDS" like on the Sony A/V remote, I can point it at the camera of my phone and see the IR beam being transmitted when I push a button. With my Tamiya Sherman, when I point my phone camera at the IR LED of the Battle system and press the Fire Cannon, I don't see the IR beam like I do with just any regular remote control..

I have some extra TSAL6200 IR LEDS do you think these will work with the Tamiya DMD\MF ? If so, maybe I will try wiring one up with a connector and plug it in and see if I have a different result using a different IR LED. I really hope the IR LED from my Tamiya battle system is not dead because it will be a pain to switch it out of the tank at this point

5

Other Open Source Projects / Re: Standalone Tank IR

« on: December 21, 2025, 02:56:20 PM »

Hi all, sorry to post on such an old topic but I've been trying to get this working and having a bit of trouble ...

I am trying to build just a small testing unit for my Tamiya M4 Sherman tank (with DMD\MF and Tamiya Battle System) to verify the working condition of the tank (and possibly make the TankIR arduino project build a standalone "artillery gun" like on WibblyWobbly's thread.

I'm using Arduino Pro Mini, TSAL6200 IR LED and have tried a few different IR Receivers such as TL1838, HS0038B and TSOP4838

So far, the "Fire cannon" switch works perfectly, and my Sherman registers the hits as expected.

However, I cannot get the Arduino to recognize and register hits from my tank cannon fire (attached is some of the serial monitor output, with these lines from Tank.cpp uncommented \ modified as such :

Code: [Select]

            Serial.println(F("IR Detected"));
            // For testing
                //IR_Decoder.decode(BattleSettings.IR_FireProtocol);
                IR_Decoder.decode();
                Serial.print(F("Decoded: ")); Serial.print(ptrIRName(IR_Decoder.decode_type)); Serial.print(F(" Value: ")); Serial.println(IR_Decoder.value);
                IR_Decoder.DumpResults();
I also tested with the "ReceiveDump" sketch of library IRRemote, and it sees some IR being detected when I fire the cannon, but it also seems like it's only detecting 1 bit.

I am compiling the TankIR sketch using Arduino IDE 2.3.7 and AVR Boards 1.8.3 and get the "Low memory available warning"

Low memory available, stability problems may occur.
Sketch uses 25064 bytes (81%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30720 bytes.
Global variables use 1852 bytes (90%) of dynamic memory, leaving 196 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.

However, I also installed Arduino IDE 1.8.5 and AVR Boards 1.6.20 and while the low memory warning goes away, it still does not register the hits from my tank (same unknown/1bit output detected)

I really appreciate any suggestions or help troubleshooting this, I know it's a pretty old project so I understand if that's not really possible.