sturmgrenadier

Hello experienced tankers. I'm just trying to finish up building my airsoft Taigen 75mm Sherman kit. I've got the parts put together. And I am just trying to connect all the wires, but it's not clear to me how to do so. So I see a female receptor for the eight pin pre-wired on my upper hull, but I am confused about where the other end of my eight pin connector wire plugs into (shouldn't there be another eight pin receptor somewhere? And coming out of the turret I have a three pin connector and a two pin connector bound together with some sheathing. I know where the three pin connector plugs into, but where does the two-pin plug plug into? Really different than the wiring on my Taigen Panther G and Taigen Tiger I Early version (both are airsofts too). I'm hoping maybe someone who has built this tank model can tell me how the wires connects together (or if I am lucky, show me a picture of it). Thanks for any help you can lend.

Crius

The 8 pin goes to the daughter-board, the other end of the 8 pin plugs into the motherboard (MFU), the three pin goes to the daughter-board (on the underside of the upper hull), and the two pin should be the trigger switch, which plugs into the MFU.

sturmgrenadier

Gary, many thanks for the refresher. It all has come back to me now. This knucklehead forgot that one end of the eight pin goes into the motherboard (Duhhhhh....) (smacking side of head). Everything works now Comment: Am I the only one who finds the inside of the Sherman seems really cramped with not much room for the wiring? (it's hard to keep wires out of the fan, etc.....)

There is a sheathing that goes around the three pin and two pin wires that run out of my turret. I can only barely plug in the airsoft into the motherboard, because the wire's reach is limited by the sheathing. Is there any good reason why I can't cut this sheathing around the wires (I'm not talking about the actual wires just this long rubber sheathing)?

And I have two extra wires that aren't being used from the turret. I guess I can just tuck them away (so they don't short out anything) because they are only used by infrared?

Crius

Yeah, it's pretty tight inside a sherman. Try this


You can do what you want with that sheathing. It's just shrink tube.

Are you sure the two extra wires aren't the trigger switch? Photos might be helpful.

sturmgrenadier

Great idea for the fan guard! I'll have to try that. And you called it right with my trigger not working. I tried to dry fire my airsoft and it doesn't fire (no sound/action at all). The reason I don't have any bb's to use right now is because they are all back in my 'workshop' (my mother's basement, haha). I'll load the airsoft up this weekend when I'm back with the rest of my gear. I think you already tried to help me learn how to load a picture taken with my phone camera onto these forums (I watched a You Tube demonstrating the skill), but I wasn't smart enough to understand (thanks though).

So for now, I'm left with describing what I see (not as good as a visual, but here goes): I can tell you the two 'loose' wires are red and black, whereas the other wires are other colors (so that right there maybe should have tipped me off that they are important and used for something -like the airsoft). Weirdest thing because they were bundled together with the three pin and five pin wire in the sheathing (they all run together out of the turret). And I was really careful not to accidentally snag any wires (pull them forcefully). Maybe they need to be soldered somewhere? No worries if a picture is needed. I'll try to get some help from a more tech-savvy sibling with uploading a picture of the wires this weekend. Thanks again for the help.

BcuriousR

The two pin should be for the airsoft recoil switch. But, if you have that working, they could be the turret machine gun led wires.

The 3 pin should operate the airsoft and elevation from the daughter board on the upper hull.

The 5 pin part confuses me a bit........ Is this an IR harness? Inside the turret, where does the other end of this 5 pin go?

sturmgrenadier

BCuriousR, thanks for the reply/helping, too. Sorry for my error: there's no five pin (I don't why I said five pin by accident in my last post). Basically, everything is plugged in except that I have two wires (one red and one black) that don't have a plug (just metal at their ends). These two wires are 'bundled together' in the sheathing with the three pin wire (plugs into the upper hull) and the two pin wire that plugs into the airsoft port on the motherboard. Everything on my tank (including the machine gun on the front of the hull and elevation) works except that the airsoft doesn't dry fire (I need to fill it with some bb's when I get back to my 'workshop' this weekend). You mentioned that there is a 'turret machine gun', but I don't see a second machine gun (just the front hull machine gun that lights up OK when I press my machine gun button)? I think this is definitely an airsoft turret, because I can see the airsoft housing (my three other tanks are also airsoft, so I recognize what one looks like from underneath).

sturmgrenadier

I must confess to a huge amount of frustration. I now know that I need to get the gearboxes on my new Sherman kit bolted down with at least two screws each (Erik from Taigen knows his stuff with tanks and has always given me good advice: he recently explained to me that one screw a side just won't cut it for holding the gearboxes down). I've tried every possible manner of sliding, pulling, pushing, prodding. I've even taken a strong screwdriver and tried lever the gear boxes at an angle, but it's starting to bend/buckle the supporting rods (for a lack of a better term) and the actual metal sides of the gearboxes. (So I stopped doing that). I just CANNOT get that second screw to screw in on either gearbox. I've tried multiple holes in the bases, but only the middle hole on each gearbox is tightening at all (the screws in the other holes just spin around). Is it possible that I just have a chassis which is not manufactured within tolerances (i.e.- the holes are not going to line up with the gearboxes no matter what). Just venting a little and hoping that maybe another more experienced tanker can give me some technique/advice for solving this kind of problem. Would hate for the gearboxes to rip out when I run the tank...Thanks.

BcuriousR

This is the inside of my Taigen Sherman. The daughter board on the upper hull has two small wires on the right side. These are the turret machine gun, (wired to the same points as the hull machine gun). In the mantlet there are two holes. One is for the airsoft warning light, the other is the machine gun. If those are the only two wires not plugged in, the airsoft should still fire, BBs or not. If it's not firing, you have another problem. Does the airsoft have a safety switch under the hatch? (Mine is IR, converted from airsoft, so I can't remember all the little things).

sturmgrenadier

BCuriousR, thanks for taking the time to explain and send me the picture. Everything works with my tank except there is no airsoft action (no fire sound/no lighting up of the warning light on the mantlet/no track recoil) when I press the trigger. I made sure the airsoft wires (and other wires) are plugged in and that the on/off switch is flipped to on on top of the turret. I still have the loose red and black wires that probably belong somewhere. I would like to post a picture I have taken of my upper hull, daughter board and wiring for you folks to see exactly what I am describing, but I have never been able to figure out how to upload a picture from my phone to this forum thread. I saved the picture I just shot to my gmail account, but when I go to try to browse and upload on this thread, it keeps wanting to search my laptop's files (which is not where the picture is stored). Anyhow, I'll try getting a more technically skilled family member to help this dunce post the picture here this weekend. Thanks again for having tried to assist

sturmgrenadier

Not the greatest picture. I stumbled around and somehow managed to load it on the thread....

BcuriousR

Looks like your 3 pin plug is backwards. Those loose wires are for your mantlet machine gun light. Look where they're soldered in my photo above. You don't need them, but that's what they're for. Turn your plug around. The black/red with a terminal is your recoil switch.

sturmgrenadier

BCuriousR, thanks for advising. I understand where I need to solder the loose red and black wires. I am still a bit puzzled about the right orientation for plugging in my three pin though: in comparing our photos, it looks like my three pin is oriented the same (with the two prongs on the outside of the plug facing the eight pin connector? But I took your advice to switch it around, but I still don't have any action when I pull the trigger). Also, what did you mean by 'The black/red with a terminal is your recoil switch.'? Is there a small switch on the daughter board to turn the recoil on and off? (I thought the track recoil is controlled by a switch on the main motherboard?). Again, thanks for explaining further (hopefully I am not being too dense...)

BcuriousR

You're right, you had it in the right way. Sorry. This diagram will show you where to plug the recoil switch in to the motherboard. Again, without it, the airsoft should fire, you just won't get the gun sound and tank recoil. Does your elevation work? Can the gun move up and down?

sturmgrenadier

BCuriousR, no worries-I appreciate your trying to help. Oddly enough, my elevation motor works just fine (I've got full up and down). Thanks for the diagram. Now I understand your earlier post about the terminal (you just meant for me to plug in the two-wire airsoft plug into the right motherboard slot, and luckily, I have been doing that from the start. Alas, airsoft just won't work when I pull the trigger). At least I know where to solder the loose red and black wire for the other functions, though. I am going to bind my Sherman turret to another TAIGEN V3 board (on one of my other tanks) and see if it will fire this weekend. If I still get no action when triggering, maybe that will at least help narrow down that it is not a problem with the motherboard..... I'm still all ears to any suggestions from you and other tankers...Thanks.

BcuriousR

Sounds like you've got a plan to narrow it down. While you're at it, test the turret from the other tank on your Sherman. If the Sherman turret doesn't work on the other tank, you're left with the airsoft unit itself, (because elevation works). At that point, I'd trace the two wires that run the airsoft to see if there is a problem; if not your airsoft unit may be bad. Good luck.

sturmgrenadier

I tested my Sherman's turret on my Tiger I motherboard, and the elevation/turret, etc. work fine, but still no action from the airsoft. Erik from IMEX/Taigen is super busy these days, but he took the time to yesterday to advise me on my wiring problem. He explained that my first step should be to take everything apart and check the continuity of the wiring, compare the wiring with the diagrams (he sent me a few of them for an airsoft unit). One tip that I learned from him is that there should never be any extra wires (everything is connected somewhere). He told me my extra black wire is probably the ground to the airsoft unit (and he explained the airsoft and elevation share a common power lead, but the switching for the motors is done via ground). I've heard the term 'ground' before in the context of electrical circuits, but I am not sure how to apply that here to my wiring? I do have a multimeter (it came with a soldering unit I bought a couple of years ago, but I don't know how to use it). Hopefully, there are how-to-guides on the internet if I search for them....

In looking at the diagram Erik sent me and comparing it to my wiring and the wiring of BCuriousR's Sherman and my Sherman, it really looks like I need to solder my extra red and black wires to the daughter board. I gave it a shot, but failed miserably. (I unfortunately have had a pretty bad tremor for years now. I was starting to singe the board and just don't have the steadiness to place the solder wire and my wire on a fixed point (the connector of the board). So, I have reached a dead end in my repair efforts for now. My next step will be to take my upper hull in to my local hobby store and have the techs there solder these two wires. (Regrettably I'll need to wait until things hopefully settle down with the Corona virus and such-I don't go anywhere these days except periodically the supermarket and such, because I would hate to bring something back to my seventy-five year old mother (when I go 'home' on weekends).

I guess the question I have for now: if I learn how to use the multimeter, can I obtain any more information about my Sherman's wiring that might be useful for fixing my tank's airsoft problem? Thanks for any tips you guys might have here....

BcuriousR

Yup, a multimeter would be nice. But, as you have 2 tanks, one that works and on that doesn't, you just need to use what you have to figure it out. Here's what I would do with what you have.
I'll call them Sherm and T2 (I don't know what your second one is)
1. Remove both turrets. Install T2 turret on Sherm. Plug T2 into the upper hull 3 pin on the daughterboard and the recoil switch on the motherboard, just as it is on T2 upper hull.
Does it work?
Yes: Your problem is inside the turret of Sherm.
No: problem with daughterboard, motherboard or even the 8 pin wire harness in Sherm.
2. Try Sherm turret on T2 upper hull. Plug Sherm into the upper hull 3 pin on the daughterboard and the recoil switch on the motherboard.
Does it work?
Yes: Problem is with the daughter board, motherboard, or 8 pin wiring harness on Sherm.
No: Problem is in the turret of Sherm.

3. You've narrowed down the problem inside the turret. TAKE THE TURRET APART. Chase the small number of wires inside the turret. Somewhere a wire is disconnected to the airsoft. (Your elevation works, so you only have 2 wires to follow). One goes directly to the airsoft unit (negative), the other goes to the elevation motor, then the airsoft switch, then to the airsoft, (positive), see the diagram I posted before.

Take your time. You have all the materials you need to test the system. You're lucky to have 2 tanks to work with. If not, we'd explore how to use the multimeter.

Final word on your two loose wires. Look at their gauge. They are tiny, just like all the other LED wires in your upper hull, headlights, taillights, hull machine-gun. Those two wires are for the mantlet machine-gun. Taking the turret apart would solve this very quickly. If you tilt the turret and look inside, you'll see them Here is a photo of just this suggestion. My wires are cut, just like yours, and spooled up, (I plan to put a plug on it because it's the only set of wires permanently connected to the daughterboard making quick disconnect impossible, I just lost interest/concern). So, its just like yours and everything works perfectly except for the tiny red blinking light in the mantlet. This light has nothing to do with your airsoft.


I'm not perfect, (I clearly looked too quickly at a photo you posted earlier), but feel I have a pretty good grasp of basic tank wiring. After getting frustrated with the online help, and limited help from manufactures and dealers, I started taking things apart to figure them out. Work slowly, you'll get it. Best of luck to you.

Last note: Soldering was a frustrating ordeal until I bought a better soldering iron, 40-60 watts; now, soldering is a breeze.

sturmgrenadier

BCuriousR, many thanks for taking the time to give me step by step instructions for troubleshooting my airsoft problem I think I understand what I need to do. The other (fully functioning) tank I will be using to test my Sherman is a Tiger I early version. Hopefully, I will find that something is wrong with the wiring inside my Sherman turret (and I will then be able to open it up and fix it). Thanks for 'pounding into my head' the fact that the tiny red and black loose wires coming from my turret have nothing to do with the airsoft (but rather, the mantlet machine gun) - I get that now. I will need to take it very slow with this process of testing, because I really only have access to all my tanks/gear on weekends (I live in a small apartment during the work week). But I will post on this thread as I make gradual progress...

Comment: I already see the proverbial 'silver lining' in my Sherman airsoft trouble: hopefully I am starting to learn more about my tanks' inner workings and how to fix problems with them. Impressive that you are basically self-taught with the hobby, learning by taking apart and rebuilding your tanks on your own (maybe that is the 'only' and best way to do things). Thanks again for having advised me thus far...