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New "compatible" Heng Long 6.0 IR receiver test results

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  • New "compatible" Heng Long 6.0 IR receiver test results

    IMPORTANT: Before you read this review please take a look at the thread entitled "IR Battle Systems?...... Heng Long 6.0 vs Tamiya" it will help you understand the poor performance issues related to the stock Heng Long IR receivers that this new aftermarket IR receiver addresses.


    For a few month now I have been working with a small company and encouraging them to make a Heng Long 6.0 compatible version of their existing low profile Clark/IBU/Tamiya IR battle receivers that would address the many short comings of the stock Heng Long one. Well they final worked up some prototypes for testing of which I was given three for fitment and performance testing. The following are my findings and will be in two parts, first will be performance the second about interfacing with the HL 6.0 control board (MFU) and fitment on the tank.


    PART 1: Performance

    The tests were conducted side by side with stock 6.0 Heng Long IR receivers some with, some without sunshades and Tamiya IR receivers installed in Tamiya MFU equipped tanks as base line comparisons.

    The harshest condition for IR receivers is bright sunlight, so I conducted the static distance testing in it. I started at 10 feet (~3m) which was slowly increased. At each distance I fired several shots at varying angles to the turret from stock Heng Long, stock Tamiya and aftermarket high performance IR bulbs to ensure all could be read by the new receiver. At 35 feet (~10m) in bright sunlight the stock "unshaded" Heng Long receiver was useless and the shaded one was reduced to reading ~60% of the IR hits. The new aftermarket receiver was reading 100% of the hits.

    Moving out to 50 feet (~15m) the shaded receiver was reading less then 50% of the IR hits depending on the turrets orientation to the IR beam and the new receiver was still reading 100% of the hits. Moving back further to 75 feet (~25m) the shaded stock receiver was only able to read ~10% of the hits while the new receiver dropped slightly to ~80% . Some of drop in performance for both receivers was do to the increased difficulty aiming the IR beam to hit such a small target. The last static range was at 90 feet (~30m) and at this distance the shaded stock receiver indicated no hit, but the new receiver was indicating ~50% hits.

    It must be noted that the Tamiya IR receiver was indicating 100% hits at all distances out to the 90 foot (~30m) mark.

    Next was the more practical testing of moving and shooting at typical club battle ranges of 5 - 40 feet (~1.5-13m). Here again the new receiver out shined the stock receiver (with or without added sunshade) and was more consistent with indicating hits while moving. The stock IR receiver needs a solid .5 -.75 seconds of indicated IR energy for the 6.0 system to reliably read a hit. This does not sound like a long time, but compared to the industry standard for battling set by the Tamiya system it is. The new receiver is near instantaneous just like the Tamiya system. This levels out the playing field and reduces the unfair advantage that the stock Heng Long IR receiver has with its long delays( = very hard to hit while on the move or taking a "snap shot" at).

    When did performance fall off? There was a loss in performance when the tank batteries dropped below ~40% capacity. This is a function I suspect more of the 6.0 control board/MFU suppling less power to the IR bulbs, less power means less beam energy = harder to read. It is not solely a Heng Long 6.0 issues, Tamiya/Clark/IBU have this issue too, though to a much lesser degree.

    A few other notes that should be mentioned. The test receivers I was given came with "45 deg" sunshades (as seen in the photos). These shades mimic the built in "hit angles" of the Tamiya IR receiver and like the Tamiya are meant to simulate resistance to glancing cannon fire hits on certain hull angles. The "45 deg" sunshades work well in the Tamiya/Clark/IBU versions of this new receiver, but maybe too well in the Heng Long version (again I suspect this is more to do with the 6.0 control board/MFU) and I would not recommend them to those just starting out and not yet versed on how to use them properly. The better option for 6.0 Heng Long tanks is the 360 sunshade also offered for these new IR receivers. Don't worry the shades pop off / on easily so you can switch them out and change performance needs to match your game play.

    Overall I am very impressed with the new 6.0 Heng Long version of this IR receiver. It is as good as their versions made for Tamiya, Clark and IBU and goes a long way toward making the new 6.0 Heng Long tanks much more compatible in game play with the other widely accepted systems. With this new receiver installed the only thing now lacking is setting weight class and damage speed reduction, but then these things can be addressed in other ways as mentioned in the "IR Battle System" thread referred to at the start of this review.

    Next up is part two were I will go over installing the new IR receiver. It is not 100% plug and play easy install, but it is also not hard to install either.

    Below are some of the photos taken during the testing, sorry most of the best ones could not be uploaded as they are mgbt heavy. I also have more photos and videos of the testing on my Instagram @fsttanks so feel free to check those out as well. If you are interested in finding out more information about these new IR receivers you can PM "LegoDEI" he is the member here and fellow tanker that builds these. Please keep in mind these are prototypes and are not ready for sale as of the writing of this review.

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    Photo of move and shoot testing phase. Attacking tank is ~50 feet away circled in red.


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    The prototype IR receivers have red LED hit indicators, the production one is suppose to have super bright blue LEDs to be far more visible in daylight.


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    The tank has just been hit but it is hard to see the red LEDs. The blue LED are much easier to see in all lighting conditions. This tank was ~40 feet away when hit by another 6.0 Heng Long IR beam.

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  • #2
    Hi Rubicon, Thanks for the real world IR testing, a lot of very good data here...!

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    • #3
      I'm happy to share some photos of the final production model with everyone!
      These are actual photos and not renderings, with and without sunshade in bright sunlight with super bright blue LED's
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      Last edited by LegoDEI; Mar 24, 2020, 07:55 PM. Reason: fixing pictures.

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      • #4
        Welcome LegoDEI. I am sure we all would love to see the pics but something didn't go right with the post. Are you the person developing these?

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        • #5
          Originally posted by RCjetdude View Post
          Welcome LegoDEI. I am sure we all would love to see the pics but something didn't go right with the post. Are you the person developing these?
          He is the developer. Here are a few photos of the production version he sent me.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by RCjetdude View Post
            Welcome LegoDEI. I am sure we all would love to see the pics but something didn't go right with the post. Are you the person developing these?
            I tried fixing them, are they now visible?

            Comment


            • #7
              Yes! They look great Thank! Thank you for your work on these. From what Rubicon99 is saying they are very promising. I know that I and my boys are eager to get our hands on some. Hopefully that might be sooner rather than later.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by RCjetdude View Post
                Yes! They look great Thank! Thank you for your work on these. From what Rubicon99 is saying they are very promising. I know that I and my boys are eager to get our hands on some. Hopefully that might be sooner rather than later.
                Based on the three prototypes I have been running and gunning with for the last week or so they are ready! The only issues is installation and mounting which I will be going over in part 2 of the review shortly. For those with some basic+ skills with slicing a few wires and making a small mount for their specific tank type to hold the receiver, these are an absolute winner produced.

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                • #9
                  This looks great! And much needed.

                  I met up with a bunch of friends with newly acquired Heng Long Tanks from Motion RC last Saturday for some shakedowns on a wonderful perfect battlefield near my house. We all decided to try out the IR battle system and it was a total bust. The sunny day prevented the system from being reliable at all. But I can really see how the ID battles could be a lot of fun. We need to try it again at dusk.

                  We are more than ready to purchase this solution as soon as it is sorted out and ready.

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                  • #10
                    UPDATE:

                    Sorry I have not posted PART 2 yet a few things have come up. I will be getting my hands on a couple of production IR receivers to play with so I felt holding off would be best until I have those installed.




                    Comment


                    • #11
                      So to clarify the ones on Etsy are beta units and not strictly V1.0 release yet?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Vaseline View Post
                        So to clarify the ones on Etsy are beta units and not strictly V1.0 release yet?
                        They ones on Etsy are NOT for the Heng Long 6.0 system and DO NOT work with it. They have been around a while exclusively for the more advanced Tamiya, Clark and IBU battle systems. The Heng Long 6.0 battle system cannot read them.

                        The new ones being tested in this review look the same and are based on the ones currently being offered for Tamiya, Clark and IBU, but there have had a “number” of changes to get them to work with the Heng Long 6.0 battle system.

                        I was told the new Heng Long 6.0 compatible receivers will not be listed yet. They are working at building a sufficient inventory of them prior to opening up available to the public, at least that is what I was told.

                        Also the only difference between the prototypes I have and the production ones are the LEDs and level of power supplied to them. The production ones will have the super bright “BLUE” LEDs. Normally the “BLUE” LEDs are an upgrade option for the Tamiya, Clark and IBU receiver version. That’s a hug plus because they are easy to see from rather far away even in bright sunlight unlike the red LEDs.

                        I will state these are NOT PLUG & PLAY direct fit to the HL 6.0 battle system external IR plug port. It’s not hard to change out the wires and plug, but it is not something I would recommend for the novice with no RC “hobby” experience. Once I have the production units in hand I will post PART 2 which will hopefully give folks an idea of what to expect.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Rubicon99 View Post

                          They ones on Etsy are NOT for the Heng Long 6.0 system and DO NOT work with it. They have been around a while exclusively for the more advanced Tamiya, Clark and IBU battle systems. The Heng Long 6.0 battle system cannot read them.

                          The new ones being tested in this review look the same and are based on the ones currently being offered for Tamiya, Clark and IBU, but there have had a “number” of changes to get them to work with the Heng Long 6.0 battle system.

                          I was told the new Heng Long 6.0 compatible receivers will not be listed yet. They are working at building a sufficient inventory of them prior to opening up available to the public, at least that is what I was told.

                          Also the only difference between the prototypes I have and the production ones are the LEDs and level of power supplied to them. The production ones will have the super bright “BLUE” LEDs. Normally the “BLUE” LEDs are an upgrade option for the Tamiya, Clark and IBU receiver version. That’s a hug plus because they are easy to see from rather far away even in bright sunlight unlike the red LEDs.

                          I will state these are NOT PLUG & PLAY direct fit to the HL 6.0 battle system external IR plug port. It’s not hard to change out the wires and plug, but it is not something I would recommend for the novice with no RC “hobby” experience. Once I have the production units in hand I will post PART 2 which will hopefully give folks an idea of what is needed.
                          Im looking at LegoDEI's Etsy page right now and he has Henglong under the board type dropdown menu is why I was asking. Yeah I see you need to replace the 3pin JSTX with a 5 to run the LEDs in addition to the IR receiver. but as you say not ready yet gotcha, Ill have my eyes peeled in the mean time thanks for the info.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Vaseline View Post

                            Im looking at LegoDEI's Etsy page right now and he has Henglong under the board type dropdown menu is why I was asking. Yeah I see you need to replace the 3pin JSTX with a 5 to run the LEDs in addition to the IR receiver. but as you say not ready yet gotcha, Ill have my eyes peeled in the mean time thanks for the info.
                            Wait a little while longer. If they did move forward with listing them I am sure you would get the production version I will be getting in hand. I am trying to persuade them to include the wires, 5 pin JST plug and 360 sunshade with the new receiver. It would raise the price a few dollars, but I feel it would really simplify the install and use for most people.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Picked up the production IR battle receivers today and ran them through three hours of testing in noonday sunlight.

                              They worked well beyond expectations!!! We had several 6.0 HL tanks running them and it was a shooting fest. I have never seen 6.0 HL tanks fighting so well. I have to admit it was more fun then fight with Tamiya battle systems. Everyone was evenly matched and the fighting was no holds bar. All this was made possible because of the new IR receivers taking advantage of the maximum potential of the 6.0 system. If only HL had done this from the start!!

                              The plan to only produce the HL version with BLUE LEDs has been changed to include the RED too. The change in LED power has made both evenly visible in bright sunlight. Below are a few photo of both side by side installed and a close up of the 360 sunshade. I also posted a video on my Instagram @fsttanks of some long range shooting along with a few more photos of today’s testing.

                              PART 2 will be up once I reshoot a few of the install photos. So check back.

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                              • #16
                                Originally posted by Rubicon99 View Post
                                Picked up the production IR battle receivers today and ran them through three hours of testing in noonday sunlight.

                                They worked well beyond expectations!!! We had several 6.0 HL tanks running them and it was a shooting fest. I have never seen 6.0 HL tanks fighting so well. I have to admit it was more fun then fight with Tamiya battle systems. Everyone was evenly matched and the fighting was no holds bar. All this was made possible because of the new IR receivers taking advantage of the maximum potential of the 6.0 system. If only HL had done this from the start!!

                                The plan to only produce the HL version with BLUE LEDs has been changed to include the RED too. The change in LED power has made both evenly visible in bright sunlight. Below are a few photo of both side by side installed and a close up of the 360 sunshade. I also posted a video on my Instagram @fsttanks of some long range shooting along with a few more photos of today’s testing.

                                PART 2 will be up once I reshoot a few of the install photos. So check back.
                                Great news! Thank you for putting in the time and doing the testing.

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  Looking forward to purchasing a few of these.

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                                  • #18
                                    I need some for myself, my two boys and anyone else who I do battle with that doesn't have one to make it fair to me!

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                                    • #19
                                      PART 2: Installations?

                                      Sorry folks..I was going to post step by step photos, but for some reason this site is "fighting me"!!!! After 90 minutes of trying it will not upload the photos correctly? Seem to want to place them were it wants vs where I need them to be. Never had this problem before????

                                      For those that want to move forward anyways, the IR receivers are now available at: www.etsy.com/shop/LegoDEI make sure you order the ones specifically for the Heng Long tanks and the 360 sunshade.

                                      At some point hopefully the photos can be posted in the correct order.

                                      I will post an abridged version on my Instagram @ fsttanks (look for the photo below) and will also # it to MotionRC's Instagram as well. It will have a short narrative, but you will still be able to see the steps and get an idea of what is needed.

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                                      • #20
                                        Thank you! Order placed.

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