arduino-panzer

Because buying one was too easy, better build and program it yourself!

This project aims to control a RC tank using a programmable board, arduino, and implement the main features of other commercial products such as Heng Long, Toro or Taigen: classic movement, turret rotation, gun elevation, sound, smoke, lights etc.

How it works?

You can see test videos of implemented features here.

Parts

Currently I have a heng long chassis with gearbox (2 DC motors), turret rotation gearbox, airsoft gun unit, sound unit and smoke generator. I control it with a bluetooth ps2 controller and several TB6612FNG drivers. See the wiring-diagram for more details.

Hardware:

1 x Arduino mega.
3 x TB6612FNG.
1 x Heng Long chassis with gearbox (2 DC motors).
1 x Turret rotation gearbox.
1 x MG90S servo for gun recoil.
1 x MG90S servo for gun elevation.
1 x Dasmikro TBS Mini sound unit.
1 x 8 Ohm speaker.
1 x PS2 controller (bluetooth is not necessary).
1 x battery (I'm using a 14.5V 2.15Ah from a robot vacuum cleaner).
A lot of jumper wires.

Dependencies

DifferentialSteering, available in the library manager.
TBSMini.
PS2X_lib.
arduino-timer, available in the library manager.
AsyncServo. available in the library manager.

Features

Feature	Status	Description
PS2 Pad control	✔️ Done
PS2 left analog stick control	✔️ Done
Turret rotation	✔️ Done
Gun elevation	✔️ Done
Airsoft gun shoot	⚠️ Pending
Smoke unit	✔️ Done
Sound unit	⚙️ In progress
Start / Stop sequence	⚙️ In progress
Hull MG firing sound	⚙️ In progress
Hull MG firing led	⚠️ Pending

Wiring diagram

Arduino Mega Timers, PWMs and Servos

PWMs:

Registrer	Pin	Timer	Frequency	PWM Freq	Prescaler (* default)
TCCR0B	4, 13	Timer0	62500 Hz	980 Hz	1, 8, 64*, 256, 1024
TCCR1B	11, 12	Timer1	31250 Hz	490 Hz	1, 8, 64*, 256, 1024
TCCR2B	9, 10	Timer2	31250 Hz	490 Hz	1, 8, 32, 64*, 128, 256, 1024
TCCR3B	2, 3, 5	Timer3	31250 Hz	490 Hz	1, 8, 64*, 256, 1024
TCCR4B	6, 7, 8	Timer4	31250 Hz	490 Hz	1, 8, 64*, 256, 1024
TCCR5B	44, 45, 46	Timer5	31250 Hz	490 Hz	1, 8, 64*, 256, 1024

Servo library:

Nº Servos	Timer	Lost PWMs
<= 12	5	44, 45, 46
<= 24	1, 5	11, 12, 44, 45, 46
<= 36	1, 3, 5	2, 3, 5, 11, 12, 44, 45, 46
<= 48	1, 3, 4, 5	All