jazzman83

Hey guys

New to the forums and after reading through a lot of posts, i'm disappointed I didn't join sooner.

I have a Traxxas Rustler. Upgraded to brushless and LIPO.

My wife is having a work event where she wanted my Rustler there to race a $30.00 little lambo. She asked that I buy a new body and paint is black and put police lights on it. This wasn't a big deal and I was looking forward to the idea.

Yesterday I went and bought all the lights and the clear body, painted it mat black and made it look at nice for her event.

This project however did get my thinking.... How would one control those lights with the radio unit? When I turn the truck on the lights just start. This isn't a problem for her event however I would like to make a much more detailed police body in the near future with the ability to control the lights, which ones are on and off as well as maybe put a siren in and be able to control that with the radio.

Would anybody be able to point me in the direction on what I would need to make this happen or maybe somebody I could message for a quick tutorial?

For anybody that might be interested, below is how the Rustler turned out.

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

To control lights from your radio there are a couple options. On the higher end there are light control units from Tamiya. These can be complicated. There's TLU-01 that you plug all the led's into then there's the TLU-02 that connects to it and allows the lights to be controlled by steering and throttle/brake if desired for brake lights, turn signals, etc. the. There's the Tamiya Multi Function units that have sound and do all sorts of things including controlling the lights from the radio. Im not familiar with the latter or any other lighting control units from other manufacturers but I'm sure there are others.

Then there's the simple approach that's just an on/off switch controlled by the radio. The link below is one such switch, simply wire the lights to the switch and plug it into the aux channel of your receiver. Either way you need at least 3ch on your radio system to control any lights from the radio. Don't be fooled by Traxxas' 5ch receivers, they count the dual steering servo ports as 2 channels. Traxxas only has 2ch, 3ch and 4 channel on the Summit. The 4ch may not be compatible with certain switches and control units due to one channel being a 3 position switch. Anyways here's the simple radio controlled switch link
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ay_Switch.html

Edit: I'd also check out the following thread, there's some info on police lighting in there you might find useful. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-c...-15-scale.html

jazzman83

Thanks a million for the information. I like the simple approach.

I didn't however understand about the 5 channel so that tells me that I need to buy a different radio. That now leads to the question of can I buy any radio for my Rustler or will it only be compatible with only a few radios? I guess the idea would be to have as many channels available as with the information you gave me I have a nice idea in my mind.

Thanks in advance for the reply

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

Let's refer to it as a radio system, consisting of a transmitter and receiver. Traxxas radio systems are only compatible with Traxxas components, Traxxas transmitter with Traxxas receiver. Futaba with Futaba, etc.

As far as your Traxxas radio system forget the receiver for a minute and have a look at the transmitter. Does it have a red thumb switch on the grip? If it's the stock Rustler radio it won't and that means it's 2ch. Now have a look at your receiver and see what it says. If it's more than 2ch you can buy a transmitter off eBay to match it if you want or buy another radio system.

The big thing is most pistol grip radios are 2-3ch. There are some 4ch but they can be pricey. Also some 4ch don't have a real independent 4th channel, it's actually a mixing channel or clone of another channel like Traxxas having 2 steering outputs and calling them separate channels. If you need more than 3ch have a look at the Flysky GTB3 I think it is. It's a 3ch radio but there's some simple mods that can be done to make it a 5ch or 6ch that'll give you all the on off options for lights and siren that you could want.

jazzman83

Overdrive,

Again thank you for all the info. I did some digging and found that my transmitter is only 2 channel. There is a red button on the top of the transmitter however it has "set" embossed under the button so I assume it would have something to do with pairing up with a car.

That being said and taking into account the information you laid out, a 3 channel transmitter seems like the best option. As you said that traxxas works with traxxas then I'm wondering if this would be a good option:

(https://traxxas.com/products/parts/radios)

Looks like it had that trigger that you are talking about. Let me know you thoughts!

Thanks a million again!

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

Just be aware you can install any radio system into any vehicle. There's no reason a Futaba transmitter and receiver couldn't be used in your truck. You just can't mix a Futaba transmitter with a Traxxas receiver for example. If you like your Traxxas transmitter and want to stick with one that's fine too. If that's the case I'd have a look on eBay as there's lots of them available brand new from chop shops cheaper than just about anywhere else. And I'd also get one with the receiver, doesn't hurt to have another just in case you get another vehicle.

SyCo_VeNoM

well if you are not afraid to solder I use the older version of https://www.pololu.com/product/2802 in 2 RC's with LED lights so I can control them off the 3rd channel, but this was well before the HK version maj linked existed.

jazzman83

Thank you all for the information. Really appreciate it.