Armortek

Tom

From your recent photos, it looks like you reinforced the ends of the smoke wiring with heat shrink

The heat shrink came like that from the factory.

I'll try plugging the receiver power cable into one of the empty MCM slots.

You don't need to use the receiver power cable. The receiver will get it's power from any of the three core R/C cables that are plugged into the MCM. So receiver power socket is never used.

Vince

Something I have been doing daily is to switch on the electronics and play around with the sounds. Today I did just that but did not activate the engine sound. I could hear a faint buzz coming from somewhere. It was isolated to the recoil servo. I could hear a faint buzz coming from inside the servo. If I touch it I could also feel it. This is my first encounter with a servo. Is this normal? Can I do anything to eliminate it?

I also checked the amount of travel of the servo when the gun is "fired". It turns one quarter turn clockwise and then one quarter turn counter-clockwise back to it's starting position.

Vince

Vince Cutajar wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:00 pm

This is my first encounter with a servo. Is this normal? Can I do anything to eliminate it?

If the servo can't push the barrel back into the exact 'rest' position, it will buzz like that. The buzzing is the from electronics driving the motor to try and get back to the absolute position. The only way to solve it is to ensure that the barrel movement is smooth, so that the servo is quiet when the gun is at rest. It should smooth out with use and quieten down.

Vince Cutajar wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:00 pm

I also checked the amount of travel of the servo when the gun is "fired". It turns one quarter turn clockwise and then one quarter turn counter-clockwise back to it's starting position.

Sounds about right.

I spent a lot of time playing with the servo travel on my version of the recoil, and if you push the limits too far, it's possible to lock the servo completely. 1/4 turn each way is 180 degrees of travel, which is pretty good for a standard servo.

If you want more travel, then you have to make the arm on the servo longer. But this affects the torque, which is measured in kg per cm

torque = kg/cm

Double the cm and you halve the available torque.

Adrian.

As always Adrian, thank you very much for your advice.

Today I was thinking of what you said about having a main switch for the model. I suspect this cannot be done with a normal toggle switch because of the high current that may pass through the switch contact. Would a 24V 80A relay do the job instead. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073WWBB6Q/ ... _lig_dp_it

Vince

I use these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-100 ... 89444.html

I mount onto a small aluminium box to protect the connections but it could just be mounted to a bracket.

Adrian.

Great idea and simpler to implement.

Vince

So, we really don't use the power ("BAT" on the Tactic 650) slot at all. OK, I'll try it.

RE: main battery isolation switch. I use a mechanical switch,

Ninth-City Car Van Truck Boat Battery Power Disconnect Rotary Isolator Kill ON OFF Switch,
Rated current and voltage: 300A 60V DC
Battery cut-off switch boat contact resistance: 50M
Battery kill switch Insulation resistance: 100M
Dielectric strength: 1500VAC / 1min
Side terminal battery bolt Electrical life: 10000

Amazon has them for $11 US.

The one Adrian recommends should do fine, and that's a pretty good price.

Tom

Instead of twiddling my thumbs I fitted all the parts to the rear plate. As it is they were all finished, waiting in a box. Starting to look good. Took some glamour shots of the rear plate.
Vince

Looks brilliant. Your meticulous work paid off big time!

Thanks Brian.

Vince

Bought the batteries for the Tiger 1. Managed to find 22AH capacity in a shop specialising in marine electrics.

http://www.pbqbatteries.com/batteries/a ... -hr-22-12/

Now I need the 24V charger. I believe many people here use C-TEK chargers so I guess they must be good. Fortunately the same shop had these type of chargers and the only one for 24V they had was the C-Tek MXT 4.0. Should I go for it?

Vince

Vince, your Tiger looks like it's just rolling off the factory floor! Great job.

RE: Batteries and chargers
I use a 24v charger with a compatible 24v charging plug. This way, I don't have to worry about charging two 12v batteries separately. Also, you might want to consider a charger with 5 amp plus charging rate. Mine is 5 amp and takes 2-3 hours to charge. A 10 amp charger would take less time, of course -- depends on your personal preference and electrical capacity for the circuit you want to charge from.

I use two 12v Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries wired in series to give me 24v. The AGM batteries you've purchased are also sealed but use a glass-based acid storage method instead of lead acid, which is a better system I think. Just make sure the charger is compatible with your batteries. (It should specify "AGM" compatible).

You can purchase the female charging plugs separately, and fabricate a mount like you see in the top picture. I installed this one just below the right rear most grill, and gives me easy access to plugging/disconnecting it.

cheers... Tom

I use two CTEK MXS 5.0 chargers when charging AGM/SLA batteries, with one for each battery.

This prevents damage to the batteries due to any imbalance in the internal resistance of each battery.

Your batteries seem to have a charge limit of 5.5A, so these would be suitable. They do get hot with discharged batteries but not excessively so.

Adrian.

Thanks gents for the helpful advice. More to think about.

Vince

I am itching to put some of the electronics in the tank to see it move again but I am trying as much as possible to resist that urge before I totally finish the bench test. So to pass the time I fitted the side skirts. I would have preferred to do it after I test again the tracks but running out of things to do to pass the time.
As you can see in the last photo, there is a little gap between the side skirt and the end plate. I was thinking of filling it in with milliput and simulating some weld seams. Would it be appropriate in that area?

Vince