Turret Slip Ring?

[Mark Allen]

What slip ring set up are folks using for their turrets? I want to integrate one into my KT.

One thing I do not know is the current draw for the elevation motor. That will be important for sizing the S/R.

Also, has anyone run the servo three wie set up through a slip ring? The frequencies involved are low enough that it should not be a problem, but though i would get confirmation that it works?

Thank you.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Hello Mark.

The new Panther is supplied with a slip ring if you get the motion pack.
It uses an 8 wire version and all signals go through these.

I am considering to get one and use it in my 2003 Tiger 1.
Your favorite Chinese webshop offers various models.

Regards,
Ed

[Mark Allen]

Thank you Ed.

I have not received my modules from Armortek yet. What a pleasant surprise it would be to find that included! Had not even thought that would be included.

[Gian Marco Menozzi]

hi,
on a panther G turret (Armortek) I use an aluminum fifth wheel,
bought on an ebay,
it's called lazy susan,
they have different sizes.
To pass the cables for the controls from the hull to the turret on all my vehicles,
PZIII , AB41, Stuart M5A1, and on the Turret of the Panther,
I use 12-pin rotary connectors, also taken from ebay.

HI
Marco

[John Clarke]

I did a slip ring mod on my Centurion last year, see Mr Wilkins Centurion. Pretty easy to do, other than fiddly soldered wiring (32 connections). There are many types of slip ring on the market, the one I used came from the US and I believe was used in micro wave technology so servo's will be a doddle.
You are right that you may need a higher loading for the elevation motor but stall current won't be too high (small motor big gearbox).
A fuse would offer extra protection, a couple of amps if that.
The slip ring I used had 16 cores of various sizes but importantly two cores that were between 16-18 AWG more than enough for the elevation motor.
I'm guessing most sliprings will come from China, so look at the spec's and pick the one most suitable if you decide to go that way. Spare wiring always recommended where possible.

I can say it's a great mod, not having to guess or remember which way the turret should be pointing without the fear of ripping or twisting the turret wiring,
and of course, you can spin the turret as much as you like, just like the real thing.

[Mark Allen]

Thank you guys for input!
16 cores sounds good. In addition to elevation, recoil and gun flash, I want more functions i.e. aiming gun (correct term?) flash, turret interior lighting plus some animation of the commander.

The hot ticket would be a second receiver in the turret for these functions and then the slip ring would only have to be a two lead affair, power and return. I havent a clue if that is even possible...

[John Clarke]

Yes, that's possible and my intension with Chieftain, 8 channels in the hull and 8 channels in the turret
That way it should require a fewer cores on the slip ring than I used in the Centurion.
That's because the red box system requires less cores for the operations I need with Chieftain.
Though I should add I will be using a servo derived elevation mechanism (a big un) which allows for stabilization on one axis.

Twin Receivers on the Taranis XD9 16 channels

[Mark Allen]

John. Thank you so much for that information! I have much to learn, that's for sure. While I like stabilization, I think that would be most UN-prototypical for a KT, so I will save that for another build.

How many proportional channels can be had? Or maybe some little Arduinos that run programs with only a switch channel signalling them. The possibilities...

[John Clarke]

The Taranis XD9 is a rabbit hole science all on it's own, There are a few setup topics on the forum.
Stephen White's setup on the My Beaut Cent topic is the most informative.
The system is much like any other basic multi channel system other than you have to program each channel. the first four are straight forward then you just setup each channel in turn.
Adding a second receiver was easy and once you get the hang of the programming procedures, it's nothing to be scared of, once done, that's it.
The system uses the standard twin sticks for four channels, two rotary knobs for two channels if required and two rotary edge mounted levers for the last two analogue channels if required. Multiple two way and three way switches are supplied to front and top of transmitter for a selection of on/off channels if required.
With this type of system you can dive deeper into programming routines, as you will see if you look at Stephan's topic, it's really interesting what you can achieve with this type of tech, though my little grey cells don't have the patience to dive that deep.
There's quite a few systems on the market, the Taranis has proved to be a good system and has more than enough scope for what you'll need on the KT and any animation you may want to do.