Hey Guys,

So tom and I have been having issues with out Taigen metal Panthers shutting down with the TK40S in them. I can drive around for a bit but it's almost like as soon as it has some resistance on the field it just clicks off. Doesn't blow the fuse or anything just shuts down. I walk over and turn the power switch off and then back on comes back to life right away for a little bit. and then dies again. I one time let it sit for 15 mins idling and then as soon as I put in gear and when to move forward... shut down...

So for shits and giggles I put my Firefly TK60S in and it runs flawlessly through thick grass, over brick obstacles, etc... I even left the superspin on and turned on smoke, lights, sound right up with my visitron speaker and it ran and ran....

. I think it is because the 40's can't handle the output needed to move that weight. Clark has asked me to try with no speaker hooked up or with an 8 ohm speaker as apparently the 40 has an internal fuse system now to protect the speaker output that if it runs into trouble it shuts the whole board dow. Tom if you read this give yours a whirl with the speaker disconnected just to test...

Fuses and Clark board don't mix well........

dgsselkirk wrote:

Hey Guys,

So tom and I have been having issues with out Taigen metal Panthers shutting down with the TK40S in them. I can drive around for a bit but it's almost like as soon as it has some resistance on the field it just clicks off. Doesn't blow the fuse or anything just shuts down. I walk over and turn the power switch off and then back on comes back to life right away for a little bit. and then dies again. I one time let it sit for 15 mins idling and then as soon as I put in gear and when to move forward... shut down...

So for shits and giggles I put my Firefly TK60S in and it runs flawlessly through thick grass, over brick obstacles, etc... I even left the superspin on and turned on smoke, lights, sound right up with my visitron speaker and it ran and ran....

. I think it is because the 40's can't handle the output needed to move that weight. Clark has asked me to try with no speaker hooked up or with an 8 ohm speaker as apparently the 40 has an internal fuse system now to protect the speaker output that if it runs into trouble it shuts the whole board dow. Tom if you read this give yours a whirl with the speaker disconnected just to test...

And this is what happened to my KV-1. Drove for a couple minutes and it just dies (aka power loss on the clark board). It does not reset unless you switch power on/off.
Clark questioned my motor filters, but that was it... No further comments, and I asked him...

The old TK-22 board drove forever (until I burned up a FET).

Try the same thing Mike, run it with the speaker unplugged and see what happens if it dies the way it did before. And then if it runs ok switch the speaker out for an 8 ohm one and see what happens. Let me know!

I'm going to try the enhanced mounting box first... Then the boards.
If that doesn't work, I'll try the speaker removal...

That is a bad design if that is the issue and Clark needs to remedy that ASAP... (Why does the TK-40 have an audio thermal protect circuit when it is 3W output (unlike the TK60 audio).

Agreed, I don't really think that is the reason but if we all try it to eliminate possibilities then we should figure out the issue. I have been running the 40's in my HL's no problem at all so I still think it is the draw due to the weight of the Taigens...

dgsselkirk wrote:

Agreed, I don't really think that is the reason but if we all try it to eliminate possibilities then we should figure out the issue. I have been running the 40's in my HL's no problem at all so I still think it is the draw due to the weight of the Taigens...

Which again reflects a bad design change someplace... I ran my KV-1 metal with a TK-22 for hours at a time without issues. Put in the TK-40 without an upper hull and with an elevated mounting cradle for the board, it died after getting tracks stuck with gravel and after a minute or two regained all power w/o resetting the power switch.

Full tank and a close fit mounting cradle, it dies after 6 minutes and requires a reset of the power switch... I'm thinking airflow around the thermal shutoff. Unfortunately it does not seem to be a resettable fuse like the one that replaced the switch/power jumper.

I have also finally set-up a successful Sound Amp system... (Only took me a couple blown boards. Sigh)…

Power Step-Up to 12V circuit board
18W Power Amp Mono Sound
15W Speaker

So maybe that will remove the "load" on the TK-40 as the only sound output is the signal +ve & -ve which is minimal current draw.

There is no load in theory if you are just taking the signal and by passing the internal amp. 

I guess the root problem is that it is not designed with a fuse in mind, so retro fitting it create some other problems.

With or without the fuse my TK40 won't run my Panther.
Tk22 was no problem

treemagnet wrote:

With or without the fuse my TK40 won't run my Panther.
Tk22 was no problem

WTF........

The only problem I've had with the TK40 in Cindy's Taigen Stug so far is the barrel elevation. I can raise it but it returns to center. Can't lower it at all.