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Messages - Lotuswins
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106
« on: July 22, 2018, 05:05:59 PM »
Hi all,
I just thought I'd share my experiences this morning with my recently built from bits and pieces Taigen KV2. I was having trouble keeping it going in that it would stop sometimes, the engine sound dying slowly away as it stopped responding to throttle inputs. It would restart by pushing the start from the transmitter but if I tried to go fwd, it would die again. Sometimes it would go forward, but if I tried reverse, it would die again. Somewhat sporatic but in the end it simply stopped wanting to move at all. So I tried troublshooting by:
Swapped in the following from known good sources thinking perhaps glitching or problems were in the bits and that the sound was dying slowly like the TCB was getting a command to stop:
Reciever/PWM-PPM converter
Cables to above
TCB
Then removed the Benedini sound card cables/power to the amp from the BEC of the TCB.
Still no joy, finally I swapped out the Sabertooth 5A controller, which is brand new and I thought pretty solid.....bingo. Unfortunately I didn't have another to swap in so I put the old 45A HK ESCs in its place. So now the tank is back in business though it doesn't quite drive as well.
No smoke was released during the failure of the controller, which makes me think perhaps it is that the heavy tank simply overworked the overcurrent sensor in the board? Anybody else had this happen?? This is a very recent purchase of the sabertooth, and I had to wait a while for it to finally be reproduced since I assume all stocks were out from the usual sources.
Specs on the KV2:
Taigen 380 motors on BB 4:1 steel gearboxes.
Benedini Mini with JS2 sounds and Adafruit tiny amp working off BEC 5v power (2.5w)
Turnigy 9x Xmtr and Rcvr with HK PWM to PPM converter
3000mah NiMh battery
All metal chassis, wheels, sprockets and tracks
Anyone else had issues with the recent batch of Sabertooth 5A serial controllers?
107
« on: July 06, 2018, 02:18:58 PM »
Okay, sorry about that. It was the setup on the ESC, once I held down the switch on each until I got a "beep-beep" it goes from practice mode (default) to climbing mode. Now it works going in reverse and recoil every time. Jerry
108
« on: July 06, 2018, 01:53:45 PM »
Hi Luke,
So on my KV2, just set up as you know, with TCB, HK 45A ESCs, Taigen sound card, 4:1 BB Taigen gears. When trying to go into reverse it will go in about 1/2 the time, when it won't reverse, the sound will rev up but no movement. I then have to release the stick and try again and it will back up. This happens almost every other time. In addition, the track recoil will happen about 1/2 the time.
I have no delays in the transition/engine/transmission engagement, reverse speed at 70%.
So I found I can make it happen when I want by simply nudging the throttle fwd, then try for reverse and it won't go in but sound and red light on TCB only. It will happen every time if I repeat this. If I then reverse again directly after the first try to reverse then it will reverse. I thought perhaps it was a deadband issue, so I moved the deadbands for steering and throttle up to 35, but to no effect, it will still do the same issue.
Could this be a setup issue with the HK ESCs??
Thanks, Jerry
109
« on: July 02, 2018, 09:55:02 PM »
Yea, very lucky though I was careful with fusing things after the switch issue though those HL/Taigen switches are not too robust.
I haven't screwed up my courage yet to heat up the boards. I've tried a couple of old board pieces, but it takes a delicate touch to get the solder to melt and not overheat/discolor the board. Since I now have a good test bed (KV1 metal ball bearing wheeled with 3:1 steel taigen boxes that will not turn even with the OP board set on 2) I may take you up on that. I'll be away for a few days, so maybe a week or two from now I'll give the board assembly a try.
Jerry
110
« on: July 01, 2018, 10:24:10 AM »
Luke,
You are spot on. I got a fresh look the next AM after tearing it all apart in frustration and found the connector to both ESCs reversed. Its all back together now and working. This metal kv2 is a beast, and with all ball bearing gears and wheels has a bit of a problem turning, even worse than the panther.
Thanks for the input. Jerry
111
« on: June 30, 2018, 02:58:34 AM »
Hi All,
I've run across something I can't explain, nor understand. Here is the background:
I'm assembling a KV2 from bits I've purchased from multiple vendors. I'm using the OP TCB, HK 45A ESCs, and Taigen gearboxes. In assembling the components in the metal chassis from Taigen, I nestled the ESCs between the 4:1 gearboxes by servo taping them together on their bottoms, and soldering the outputs directly to the motors. I then soldered the inputs together on a Dean's connector that connected to the switch in the normal fashion (left switch pole to black/negative, center pole to ESCs & TCB, and right pole to Battery). It is quite a compact arrangement, and I thought it would be great having the ESC's and gearboxes so neatly arranged leaving the rest of the chassis available for the TCB, speaker, etc.
So, the anomaly:
When I connected the battery up to the completed arrangement, the switch failed on overcurrent. So I replaced the switch after checking for shorts, and boom, the next failed. Suspecting an undersized switch, I installed one with more current capacity. The solder joint on the switch positive melted off.....wtf?? I checked all wiring for shorts, nothing. All wiring is sound. So I re-soldered the positive lead, and tried again, and the wiring got VERY warm, ESC's LEDs did not turn on, so I disconnected quickly.
Then I connected the battery directly to the ESC combination, and they both lit the LEDs, made the appropriate noises (they make a few tones upon energizing) and sat there waiting for instructions from the TCB. So I connected the switch up again, and bingo, the problem resurfaced.
So I connected in a series 10A fuse, and it will blow every time I try to use the switch. I've checked continuity between all the connections, wiring, switch poles, etc. all not showing any shorts or anything.
I've either run across a resonance issue due to the bottoms being so close in proximity, or the charging current of the these ESC's is too great for the wiring to surmount due to voltage drop in the wiring and switch. I have used these ESCs on two other installations with no problems, though they don't have the bottoms servo taped together.
Anyone have any explanations on what I am experiencing?? I didn't think the ESCs should have a charging current of this magnitude. I've connected them both up individually to the battery directly, no proplem, but individually with the switch...it will blow the 10A fuse every time. Perhaps a bad batch of ESCs??
I'll continue to test, but right now I'm going back to purchasing Sabertooth products.
Jerry
112
« on: June 02, 2018, 01:06:17 PM »
Hi again Luke,
Okay, got the new gearboxes installed, and they seem to work better though noisy until I lubed them. So this morning I pulled down the Stug to see how things are and the thing started okay, after which I raised and lowered the barrel and it shut itself down. At least it went to shutdown on the sound. So I raised and lowered the barrel after it shut down and it would be intermittent on running the motor. I suspected maybe some interference on the airsoft case hitting or rubbing on something, so I removed the top of the tank, and it was still intermittent. I then pulled the motor out of elevation gearbox and it still ran intermittent. I removed the bell housing, cleaned all the oil off the commutator and brushes and reassembled. Still ran intermittent, even worse now as it would pulse on/off. So I put a motor on off the Hooben Elefant elevation gearbox, and this motor worked fine. So I reassembled everything and it now seems okay.
So my question after all this is: Does the board sound shut down if the current is exceeded on the A & B (turrent/elevation) motor outputs?? And would it pulse the motor if exceeded as above??
Thanks, Jerry
113
« on: May 06, 2018, 02:27:58 PM »
Hi Luke,
So I googled the motor cap size, hard to find, but had some and measured them at 100 nano farads, so that's easy to order up a bunch from digikey.
I've also ordered up the gearboxes you mentioned from Germany, which should be here in a week or so. The Waltherson's sound like tin cans being dragged down the street. Also, the motors are supposed to be 360, short can ones, so perhaps they will even fit the Stug......with the airsoft, it is really cramped in there so much so I don't have room for a smoker...
Thanks again, Jerry
114
« on: April 29, 2018, 03:30:01 PM »
Actually, the switch in question is in the disabled position in startup. In the setup file, I've got position one as disabled, and position two as enabled. I always have it disabled unless I see a cat (just kidding). So the tank should start up with the airsoft disabled, which it doesn't. Is it redundant to have both positions documented? or is just saying enabled in position 2 sufficient?
jerry
115
« on: April 29, 2018, 02:58:09 PM »
Hi Luke,
I think I have things sorted, at least for the near term. I replaced the leads from the battery connector to the switch, and the switch, thinking that they were perhaps too much of a voltage drop (measuring at the TCB connector I was getting about 1/2 a volt drop on my Fluke 115 with min/max). No joy, but it seemed like the TCB liked that. I tried a different, much newer battery first, which had no effect (drat!!). So then I changed from the 12v 360 motors to 6v 360 motors (I needed the short can to fit the gearboxes into the Stug - Waltersons 3 in 1 gearboxes....worst boxes ever). Now it will drive at least, and it will go to shutdown if I keep the throttle at 100% and flog it, but I lowered it to a realistic speed at 50% throttle max, and it seems that is okay. Also, for some reason, I didn't have any caps on the motors so I need to do something about that too, perhaps spiking has contributed to the issue?
BTW, speaking of caps, what are the recommended ones to put on the motors?? I need to get a bunch, as I seem to keep swapping them around, and there is no consensus on the internet that I can find.
I think I'm going to swap out these dreaded gearboxes with the 5:1 Taigen ones, if I can find them, since the low speed control is so much better with this TCB.
Are the 4:1 bronze boxes you have in your PIII still available?
Thanks again for the help. Jerry
116
« on: April 29, 2018, 12:21:57 AM »
Hi Luke,
Sound card is Taigen V2
I have to restart it, sometimes it will after waiting a bit, sometimes I have to cycle the battery turn on switch.
The BEC I refer to is the one coming from the OP TCB.
No short idle time, it will idle for a long bit.
I've switched TCB's, recharged the battery (2000mah Taigen NiMh, but fairly old), reflashed the firmware, reloaded the file, redid the stick centering and max/mins.
I hooked up an ammeter, and put it on Min/Max reads and I can peg the 10A maximum of the ammeter. It seems to be able to get to around 3 amps, and the board will go still, I guess it is reset. I'll try snoop next, sorry I didn't think of that, maybe it will show something. Funny that it will happen with only one motor too, either one.
I'll try a different battery/program file/ and snoop tomorrow. thanks for the help. jerry
117
« on: April 28, 2018, 05:20:28 PM »
Hi Luke,
Now that my T55A, Panzer F, and Elefant are all OP powered and working great, I thought I would try to get my StugIII going on it rather than going back to the TK22 that I had in it before. So, everything is wired up, and as with the Elefant, I'm using the 45A ESC's by Hobbyking to power the two 260 motors w/positive removed from servo plugs. I can get it to start, shoot cannon (Airsoft not hooked up yet, nor are the lights and IR stuff).
The problem is when I go forward on the throttle, it will start moving but then will shut down, complete with shut down sounds. It will eventually start back up, but will repeat. These are pretty small motors, but I could do a measurement on current, but it is curious that I'm getting a shutdown sound like I am doing it on command. Is there something internally I am triggering that will give it the shutdown sequence? I'm on a NiMh battery freshly charged. Shutdown is set at 6.3 volts. BEC is rock solid at 5.0 volts.
Any ideas?
thx, Jerry
118
« on: April 28, 2018, 05:08:06 PM »
Hi Luke,
Thank you so much!! Its all back to normal now (still have to cycle the A/S sw. on start, but hey.....its great now).
Jerry
119
« on: April 25, 2018, 10:13:02 PM »
Thanks yet again, Luke, that did it.
I did the 'read radio' and it shows things bouncing around a bit on all 4 channels for control. So I moved all to 25 vs the 15 default and that has done it. I'm running the 9x PWM receiver with the HK PWM to PPM converter, so probably the worst of two worlds? The sounds are so much more realistic now (I was using the PIII/PIV sound card from Taigen) but now it is in line with the video clips on Utube of the T55.
Way Cooler....Jerry
120
« on: April 25, 2018, 09:30:37 PM »
Hi All,
I just got the Mini installed with the new adafruit amp into my T55A. It came all pre-programmed from Thomas, ready to go. Okay, now it seems I'm getting a random turret sound that goes off when it wants to, not a solid noise, but it skips a bit in what seems a random sequence, like its floating and needs to be tied down.
Since we don't need to 'teach' the mini joystick positions any longer, any ideas on what could be going on? I've emailed Thomas, who should get back to me soon, but was wondering if anyone else has had something similar?
Jerry
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