Realistic Tiger Tank Turret Control
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:06 pm
If you are into your tanks you may know that in WW2 the Germans used a hydraulic system to control the rotation of the turret which was driven by a "power take-off" from the main engine. This meant that the power traverse could only operate if the main engine was running and just as importantly full turret rotation speed could only be reached with full throttle. Asp users will know that the no engine - no power traverse is replicated by the switch to manual turret traverse when the engine is switched off. However, the full traverse speed only at full throttle is not replicated as this is a feature only of some WW2 German tanks. I'd be fairly confident to say that this feature is not present in currently available tank control units. I may be wrong but if so any such controller would then be limited to controlling only WW2 German Tiger, Panther and KTs.
The simple solution therefore is to replicate this feature using the programing abilities of your radio. By doing so you can setup this feature only for the tanks that may require it. Below I will show you how to do such a mix using er9x/ersky9x/openTX. The mixing is maybe a tad above the average BUT it is actually a variant of a fairly common aircraft mix so it is possible that this mix could be replicated on other radios. In aircraft this mix is typically applied to the elevator, whereby you get a little more up elevator (lift) with decreasing throttle (thrust). In our Tiger tank we are going to swap things around so that we are giving more Turret (AIL) with increasing throttle (THR).
In er9x more than likely your turret control channel, usually CH4 (AIL) will only have a single simple mix giving 100% of the AIL stick
CH4 100% AIL
Now since we want the THR stick to exert some control over the turret we insert a mix with the source as either CH2 or THR.
NOTE: Here we are using the Tamiya standard of RTEA, with throttle on CH2. Your controller may not be using RTEA as standard. The next most common would be TREA with throttle on CH1. If this is the case where I mention CH2 you would replace with CH1.
If you have applied some momentum mixes to your throttle channel I suggest using CH2 if not use THR. If you want the best possible control over momentum/interia have a look here on how to program that
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=57
[Insert Mix]
Source = CH2 or THR
Now we can use the Offset to determine the max speed of the turret when the throttle is in idle. Whatever value you choose here will determine the Weight value, such that Offset+Weight=100. I suggest starting simple with:
Offset = 50%
Weight= 50% NB: 50% + 50% =100%
if turret too fast at idle then lower offset and increase weight accordingly, say 40:60.
Now since we want to apply a positive value for both throttle forward AND reverse for the CURVE we select |X|
Curve = |X|
Finally we want the mix applied proportionally so as the Multiplexer we choose Multiply
Multiplex = Multiply
So your new inserted mix on CH4 will have the values:
Source = CH2 or THR
Offset = 50%
Weight= 50%
Curve = |X|
Multiplex = Multiply
How it works:
When your THR stick is in neutral it's weight = 0%, the offset is always 50%, so the combined influence of your THR stick
is: 0% (Weight) + 50% (Offset) = 50%
Hence when THR is neutral and you push your AIL stick to the max (100%) the result will be 100% x 50%, or 50% of 100%, which is of course 50%. Hence you cannot get more that 50% of turret speed when in neutral.
When your THR stick is at full it's weight is limited to the 50% we have set, so the combined influence of your THR stick
is: 50% (Weight) + 50% (Offset) = 100%
Hence when THR is at full and you push your AIL stick to the max (100%) the result will be 100% of 100%, which is of course 100%. Thus 100% of turret speed is achieved only when THR is at max.
Cheers, KG
Please note that the pics below are from my radio - I do not fly planes I drive tanks. Tanks have a Turret (TUR), Cannon (GUN), Motors (MTR) and are steered (STR). They do NOT have elevators, ailerons or rudders, so I have a radio that allows me to change from plane terms to tank terms
The simple solution therefore is to replicate this feature using the programing abilities of your radio. By doing so you can setup this feature only for the tanks that may require it. Below I will show you how to do such a mix using er9x/ersky9x/openTX. The mixing is maybe a tad above the average BUT it is actually a variant of a fairly common aircraft mix so it is possible that this mix could be replicated on other radios. In aircraft this mix is typically applied to the elevator, whereby you get a little more up elevator (lift) with decreasing throttle (thrust). In our Tiger tank we are going to swap things around so that we are giving more Turret (AIL) with increasing throttle (THR).
In er9x more than likely your turret control channel, usually CH4 (AIL) will only have a single simple mix giving 100% of the AIL stick
CH4 100% AIL
Now since we want the THR stick to exert some control over the turret we insert a mix with the source as either CH2 or THR.
NOTE: Here we are using the Tamiya standard of RTEA, with throttle on CH2. Your controller may not be using RTEA as standard. The next most common would be TREA with throttle on CH1. If this is the case where I mention CH2 you would replace with CH1.
If you have applied some momentum mixes to your throttle channel I suggest using CH2 if not use THR. If you want the best possible control over momentum/interia have a look here on how to program that
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=57
[Insert Mix]
Source = CH2 or THR
Now we can use the Offset to determine the max speed of the turret when the throttle is in idle. Whatever value you choose here will determine the Weight value, such that Offset+Weight=100. I suggest starting simple with:
Offset = 50%
Weight= 50% NB: 50% + 50% =100%
if turret too fast at idle then lower offset and increase weight accordingly, say 40:60.
Now since we want to apply a positive value for both throttle forward AND reverse for the CURVE we select |X|
Curve = |X|
Finally we want the mix applied proportionally so as the Multiplexer we choose Multiply
Multiplex = Multiply
So your new inserted mix on CH4 will have the values:
Source = CH2 or THR
Offset = 50%
Weight= 50%
Curve = |X|
Multiplex = Multiply
How it works:
When your THR stick is in neutral it's weight = 0%, the offset is always 50%, so the combined influence of your THR stick
is: 0% (Weight) + 50% (Offset) = 50%
Hence when THR is neutral and you push your AIL stick to the max (100%) the result will be 100% x 50%, or 50% of 100%, which is of course 50%. Hence you cannot get more that 50% of turret speed when in neutral.
When your THR stick is at full it's weight is limited to the 50% we have set, so the combined influence of your THR stick
is: 50% (Weight) + 50% (Offset) = 100%
Hence when THR is at full and you push your AIL stick to the max (100%) the result will be 100% of 100%, which is of course 100%. Thus 100% of turret speed is achieved only when THR is at max.
Cheers, KG
Please note that the pics below are from my radio - I do not fly planes I drive tanks. Tanks have a Turret (TUR), Cannon (GUN), Motors (MTR) and are steered (STR). They do NOT have elevators, ailerons or rudders, so I have a radio that allows me to change from plane terms to tank terms