SWAGGER

Wow! That looks like a real, full size rig. Great job, thanks for sharing. I noticed that the Servonaut kit has screw in terminals for the lights, makes adding extras a little easier. Well, I have the MFU so have to work with that. I think I have a way forward. Had a good look at it last night and what im going to do is cut the 3 "speed indicator" lights out and parallel them into the existing amber running lights on either side of them, so that all 5 will be fixed runners. Once the MFU is set to just run them as standard and not as speed indicators, they will just stay on all the time. That leaves me with 3 extra sockets which will also be "always on" in non speed indicator mode. I will also have the 3 plugs from the speed LEDs which I can use to make up a few LED harness' that way. Should work fine, can't see any issues as long as I use 1.5v LEDs. I want to light this sucker up good!

Interesting. Thanks for the input and really nice looking setup btw. Ill get my hands on some 1.5V leds and have a go.

Thanks Mouton. I don't be running it hard anyway. It has not yet been used outdoors even, plus it has never pulled anything but it's own weight, so all good for now.

Amazing collection, well done. Makes me want to get a trailer and another truck.

Also a note for anyone buying TX's online, make sure you buy Mode 2 not mode 1. Mode 2 means that the throttle is on the left stick whereas mode 1 is on the right. Sorry if this is already common knowledge, just my two cents. I have also noticed that some truckers (of the RC variety) switch the left stick ratchet system around so that the ratchet is on the left to right motion of the stick so that the truck will stay in the "selected gear" and the sprung motion is up/down for throttle. Seems like a good idea to me. I might do it myself.

I saw a lot of hydraulic componants over on gardentrucking.com. Should have all you need.

Cheers Jeff, that was a very fast response! I shouldn't really have had to ask to be honest. I knew what milli Amp per hour was and was confident when buying the battery, but I had put the truck and all the kit away for nearly a year and when I took it all out again the other day, I just had lost that confidence and forgotten a few things. Thought it best to check with the pros before going ahead and plugging it in. It is 7.2V so should be fine. Thanks for the reassurance, I will enjoy the truck for longer now!

Hi again, I actually built my Knight Hauler last year and then put it away until I was happy enough with my painting skills before attempting to paint it. It means too much to me! I practiced on static 1:24 models and then moved on to restoring a few electric guitars. Happy and confident enough now, I am going to go ahead and paint my truck and do the final assembly. Once that is done, I think i'll start tricking it out a little, a few mods here and there. One thing I want to do is use guitar string for scale CB antennas. On to the real point of this thread. I have seen so many youtube vids were guys have gone to town with leds as side markers and runners along trailers etc and just wondering if any of you have any tips. All I know is that you need 3V Leds. Are there any other specifics such as low voltage or anything else? Should you use in line resistors or get leds with inbuilt resistors? I already had a go with adding in just a couple of extra running lights on the rear bumper. They work for me, but seriously dim out the leds I piggybacked them off. I also wanted to add in extra indicators into the air cleaners, again, they work, but they seem to be sponging too much current from the existing leds. Should I even be piggybacking or trying to run them straight from the MFC? I have also bought a pair of amber flashers (beacons) for the roof from Germany. They come with their own control board which plugs straight in to the receiver, so I can have that on another dedicated channel, that will be cool. I currently use an Acoms 4 channel unit, but I am going to swap it out with a 6 channel, 2.4GHZ system with analog trims. This will allow me to add in some extra functions. All that done, I will get myself a trailer, LOVING the new 40 foot container. All advice, opinions and criticism and comments are welcome. Much appreciated guys, thanks. PS: Once I have finished the truck properly, I will put up some photos.

Hey all, Does anyone have any idea of the max size battery that you can run on the MFC? I currently run a 2000 mAh battery but I bought a 5200 mAh a while back thinking that I would get much longer running time. However, i'm now a little nervous in case I burn out my MFC. Obviously the MFC is a pricey unit and I don't want to take any chances. What is the common consensus on this? Thanks in advance......

Hate to disagree, sorry, but there is a fix. Google Alclad and check it out on youtube. It's a spray, mostly for airbrush application. It's actually real chrome particles in a laquer spray format. It's pretty toxic in so far as metal particles in the fumes, so you need to wear a mask when spraying. You put down a gloss black base and spray ALCLAD very, very finely over it and you get actual, real chrome that really blings and shines. It can still be a little delicate though so best to give it a good clear on top. Most clears out there may tarnish the chrome shine though, so use Alclads own special clear which will maintain and protect the chrome. Check it out!

Guys check out Alclad. Have a good look through the website but give some time to youtube also. These guys have several shades of chrome, gunmetal, bronze and gold and so on. They recommend a gloss black for this product. This seems to be the best stuff on the market and you get some really outstanding results. The big difference here seems to be that it is not really paint as such, paint will never be truly chrome as chrome is not a colour but a metal. So Alclad actually has tiny elements or chrome in a laquar. This makes it pretty toxic, you HAVE to ware a very good mask or else you inhale metal particles. Alclad was founded in England in 1999 and seems to have done pretty well. The website tells the story. I just discovered it while I was searching for a good way to chrome some parts on my Knight Hauler. Only thing is, from what I saw, it comes in a bottle ready for airbrush and I don't have a airbrush!! Typical!

That's interesting, ill try them in parallel then. 8? Wow, 2 barely worked for me. Out of interest, what circuit are you feeding them from? Headlights, Fogs, or front aux?

Mike O, Thanks very much for your very detailed response. Much appreciated. Incredible English for a Dane, but to be fair I have a few colleagues in Denmark and I am always impressed with their English, they even kind of have American accents! Right, I am not that good with electronics. What you are saying makes sense to me, but I may have to read it a few times and do a bit of homework to fully understand it. It is a massive help though and puts me on the right train of thought. I don't have time at the moment to work on the truck, but when I do, the next thing is to paint the body and fit some of the extras I got for it. Once that is done and the truck is "finished" I will go back to trying to light her up a little more. Thanks again for putting so much effort into that reply, very helpful. Swagger.

Ok, I tried a few electronics stores and to my total shock, they had no LED's. Finally I drove across the county to Maplin. They had 3 of the type of LED that I wanted. Yep, 3. Sad huh? So I tried to get some more, maybe different colour or whatever. All I wanted was some 3V 3mm LED's in white and red and amber/orange. All I managed to get was 3 red and 3 white, both 3mm but I think the guy gave me the wrong type of white ones. I am guessing that they are 9 or 12 volt as they barely illuminate even on a 5V source. The reds work fine and I installed them on the back of my Knight Hauler this evening and spliced them off my rear aux lights. I basically made a loom that looks identical to the Tamiya LED looms, twisted pair cable with the two LED's wired in series. I added a small resistor on the first LED anode to reduce the current drawn by the two new LED's. All works fine, but the existing rear Aux lights seem to be a little dimmer now with the extra current being drawn from that circuit. I know some people add hundreds of LED's to their trucks, I can't see that any more than 2 of these would be a good idea without dimming all the LED's down to practically nothing. Can someone please advise me of the best exact LED spec to get and possibly where to get them? I have given up on local stores, what's a decent website to order from? Cheers, Swagger.

I think I have it figured out, someone told me they should be 3V LED's. I just had a bunch of LED's that a friend gave me, don't have any spec on them, but I am guessing that they are 12V. Will get some 3V LED's tomorrow and try them out. Thanks!

Thanks mate, that's exactly what I was just wondering, what type of LED's are most suitable. I just had a bunch of LED's in my toolbox. Don't know what voltage they are, never even thought of it until today. I'm guessing they must be automotive as I have used them in my car with no issues for back-lighting the heating and air con controls. That would make them 12V I suppose. Ill head out tomorrow and buy a **** load of 3V in in both 3mm and 5 mm and maybe in a few different colors. Ill try them out tomorrow evening and post back hopefully with good news! Thanks again for the tip!

Thanks for that. I have the polarity right for sure, checked a million times. I even have a multi-meter to check before I connect anything. So I guess the LED's must be of the wrong value. They are just mini (3mm) hyper LED's from over the counter. Have no info/spec on them. I tried connecting them to other outputs on the MFU and they burnt out. What kind of LED's should I use/buy? On my last attempt this evening, I used some resistors on the anode, thinking that the LED's I have were sucking too much current, so the resistors will both regulate the current drawn and also protect the LED. Seems fine now when connected to straight power, but again, even with the resistors, I tried to reconnect to the front blinkers and they don't work. I have noticed (on youtube etc) that anyone with LED's in the Knight Hauler air cleaners, have them always on as opposed to blinking, so the blinker circuit must not allow anymore than one LED. Where is the best place to connect extra LED's, should you be able to splice off existing lights or should you be connecting to a spare outlet. J13 seems to be empty/unused, anyone know what that is for? I have also notice a four pin, brown connector on the bottom of the MFU connector block, under the servo connectors. Beside this connector, on the PCB, it is marked as "1." I cant see what this is for. Any ideas? I know the 6 pin white connector on the opposite side is for the trailer lights. I am just trying everything but obviously would like any additional lights to come on with the existing lights as opposed to being on as soon as you power up the truck. Sorry for being a pain in the neck, but this is driving me mad, I know this is doable, and i'm handy enough with electronics so it's frustrating the badword out of me that I can not make this happen. It probably is something as stupid as the wrong type of LED, hopefully that's all it is and I can easily sort that out. Thanks for the advice and time, Steve.

I knew I was not going mad. I had the polarity right. It seems that there is not enough current on the blinker circuit to run more than one LED at a time. Either the original LED works OR the new one, but not both together. I assume this current limit is only on the blinkers as it seems most people get away with loading up loads of LEDs from the headlight circuits. Any other ideas guys?

Yeah I get that, Light Emitting Diode, but I checked the polarity first and they worked. I temp fitted them for test before any soldering. I suppose there is a chance that I mixed it up afterwards. Ill peel away the heatshrink and desolder them. It's worth checking. It's funny, I want the polarity to be wrong so that they work, but I also don't want to feel like a twat! LOL! Ill post back later with the result, thanks guys!

Thanks for the info hedge, but I can't see why I would need a diode for this. There is no need to block current from any direction. Both existing and new LED's are sharing common positive and negative. In theory, if one lights, both should light. I could be wrong of course, but im pretty sure I am not. I have rewired most of the dash of my (1:1 real) car, and the rear light clusters without a hitch. I used diodes on the rear lights as I added extra "slave" rear lights, that are also brake lights and can be kept on as fog lights with the flick of a switch on the dash. The diodes where to stop the current going back and making the existing lights stay in normal operation when the new ones act as fogs.......hmmm......I just don't get this....

Hi all, Really hoping someone can help me out. For those who know the Knight Hauler, there are two orange/amber blinkers on the the air cleaners, just begging to be lit up. Looks really easy too, they even have little holes for LED's and cover plates like all the rest of the lights. Problem is, the MFC-01 does not provide extra blinker lights for them. I have seen it done, on a You Tube vid of someones truck. I figured, can't be to hard, just splice to more front blinkers into the two existing ones, one each side, right? Well, did that and they don't work. First thing I did was chop off the existing front blinkers and temporarily connected up the new LED's that I wanted to add in. They worked fine, green is neg and yellow is pos. Sorted. So then I splice in the new LED with the existing one, solder it all up really neatly and even have a neat heatshrink job done. There is no logical reason for this not to work, but it doesn't. It's like they the new LED's are not even there, I am still at square one, ie, the originals work as they always did and both of the new ones are non functional. I know the LED's worked before I soldered them in. I have seen and heard of loads of people adding in extra lights, dipped, full, front, rear and so on, but has anyone here ever added in extra blinkers on an MFC-01? It should work shouldn't it? Thanks guys!

Hi all, Really hoping someone can help me out. For those who know the Knight Hauler, there are two orange/amber blinkers on the the air cleaners, just begging to be lit up. Looks really easy too, they even have little holes for LED's and cover plates like all the rest of the lights. Problem is, the MFC-01 does not provide extra blinker lights for them. I have seen it done, on a You Tube vid of someones truck. I figured, can't be to hard, just splice to more front blinkers into the two existing ones, one each side, right? Well, did that and they don't work. First thing I did was chop off the existing front blinkers and temporarily connected up the new LED's that I wanted to add in. They worked fine, green is neg and yellow is pos. Sorted. So then I splice in the new LED with the existing one, solder it all up really neatly and even have a neat heatshrink job done. There is no logical reason for this not to work, but it doesn't. It's like they the new LED's are not even there, I am still at square one, ie, the originals work as they always did and both of the new ones are non functional. I know the LED's worked before I soldered them in. I have seen and heard of loads of people adding in extra lights, dipped, full, front, rear and so on, but has anyone here ever added in extra blinkers on an MFC-01? It should work shouldn't it? Thanks guys!

:blink:Hi all, Really hoping someone can help me out. For those who know the Knight Hauler, there are two orange/amber blinkers on the the air cleaners, just begging to be lit up. Looks really easy too, they even have little holes for LED's and cover plates like all the rest of the lights. Problem is, the MFC-01 does not provide extra blinker lights for them. I have seen it done, on a You Tube vid of someones truck. I figured, can't be to hard, just splice to more front blinkers into the two existing ones, one each side, right? Well, did that and they don't work. First thing I did was chop off the existing front blinkers and temporarily connected up the new LED's that I wanted to add in. They worked fine, green is neg and yellow is pos. Sorted. So then I splice in the new LED with the existing one, solder it all up really neatly and even have a neat heatshrink job done. There is no logical reason for this not to work, but it doesn't. It's like they the new LED's are not even there, I am still at square one, ie, the originals work as they always did and both of the new ones are non functional. I know the LED's worked before I soldered them in. I have seen and heard of loads of people adding in extra lights, dipped, full, front, rear and so on, but has anyone here ever added in extra blinkers on an MFC-01? It should work shouldn't it? Thanks guys!

Cool thanks Mark, much appreciate the help! Feel a bit more relaxed now.

Hi all, This may be a stupid question. Just returned to RC after many years, but, the power / battery input on a receiver seems to actually "output" power when used in conjuntion with an ESC. I have noticed that my motor heatsink fan can plug straight in to the receiver battery input and work fine (6V), but I am afraid to leave it in there for anything more than the quick test I did as I have heard that you can blow the receiver doing this. Can anyone tell me if this is ok or if it is not recommended? Thanks!