Re: cheap six channel (C6C) radio [TANKS]

[Frank Pittelli <frank-at-rctankcombat.com>]

chris barthelson wrote:
> Well that sucks. I just bought $550 worth of rc equipment and then you 
> tell me "it will be in the $50 range" you could have told me three days 
> ago:-(

Sorry.  We're only just now getting to the "non-prototype" stage, so we 
didn't want to speak before we had something real.   If you like our 
solution, you can always sell your RC gear to someone else :-)

> What I would like to see is a "motherboard" for tanks. Proportional 
> mixed speed control, proportional rotate and elevate, the c6c system 
> built into it, fire control, everything needed to operate a 1/6 scale rc 
> paintball tank on one "plug and play" style board.

That's exactly what we're working towards.  The on-board system will 
support (we hope) up to 10 control channels, where each control channel 
can be used to operate either a servo, a pair of relays or a PWM 
channel.  The software will allow you to map any of the gamepad controls 
to any of the on-board control ports.

As currently envisioned, the on-board controller will have 10 rows of 3 
pin headers (just like a standard RX) which can be used to control 
servos, relays and PWM modules as needed.  Simply configure the 
controller programming via the gamepad and plug the appropriate device 
into each output.

The prototype C6C (Cheap 6 Channel) controller provides only servo 
outputs currently to serve as a proof of concept and to gain some 
experience in the use the gamepads and the overall concept.  While that 
experience and battle testing is underway, we hope to complete the fully 
integrated solution.

Speaking of which, Joe brought a final version of the C6C to Tank Expo 
today and it not only looks good, but worked perfectly (pictures will be 
posted as soon as I receive them from the official photographers).  All 
of the components can be easily soldered into a small PC board about the 
size of a standard receiver by anyone with basic soldering skills. 
Headers will be provided for all servo connections (using the standard 
Futaba layout) and headers will also be provided for the standard PS2 
plug receptacle (wired or wireless).  The C6C supports servo reversing 
on all channels and trim adjustment for the four joystick channels.  It 
can be powered from a 6v or 7.2v power supply, with an on-board 
regulator powering the circuitry and signal lines.

We hooked it up to a couple of servos and to a Mad Katz wireless gamepad 
without any problems.  Then, we kept switching back and forth between 
the Mad Katz and a Pelican wireless controller simply by swapping the 
2.4Ghz receiver modules (which fit the standard PS2 controller socket). 
  The simplicity, compactness and robustness of the design impressed 
most people in attendance, not to mention the low expected price (a 
representative from Tyng Tech refused to comment until they had a chance 
to analyze the data :-)  The C6C will be thoroughly field tested over 
the next couple weeks and will be battle tested in the Navarone Gun, 
Goer and Tiger during the spring battles.

        Frank P.