My little qsteer review + motor mod, lol...

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ph2t
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My little qsteer review + motor mod, lol...

Post by ph2t »

Got a couple of these 'lil buggers from the local kmart a while ago. Lots of fun!

Decidedly different from Bits, the turning circle on these cars makes it a "true" table top racer for me. I always had trouble keeping my bits staying on our coffee table. With the qsteers it's a lot easier.

The IR is quite good, range is kickarse considering. I really like the tyres on these cars, sticky like nothing else. Way more than bits/zz ever were I reakon. Really keeps the car planted.

Stock speed is like a 1.0, when you press the boost though it's like a 2.2 - 2.6, pretty fast. Handles well and the steering is good (only binary of course), strong and DOESN'T pick up metal crap half as easily as bits did.

He's my lil stocker...

Image

You can take the shell off. The shell is secured at the front end like a Bit, with a tab. It is lightly glued though so it needs to be worked off that first time. The rear is a clip that hooks into the shell. Looks like TOMY thought it through for once and made a rear securing tab that won't break off easily (ala Bits).

Now onto the guts.... :)

Here's a small summary first.

1) Runs on 3V, 2 x LR44 button batts (non rechargable).
2) IR system, IR receiver LED "sees" through car windows.
3) "Short" micro motor, approx equivalent to a 1.0/1.6 BitChar-G in power/speed.
4) 1.7V across motor in normal mode, 2.6V in boost mode.
5) Receiver IC appears to drive motor direct (see if I can fry....).
6) Two transistors driving steering coils.

Image

Here's a bottom view. The batteries sit within the centre (duh!) and you can remove the plastic cover that sits over them. Tricky though, takes a bit of prying out with a small screwdriver. On the right of the battery is the power swtich, on the left is the channel select button (this model is channel C or D).

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Here's a shot with the battery cover removed:

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The motor is pretty cool. It's small as! Here's a shot comparing it against some other fav's of mine. :) (please ignore xtrek spello)

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I'll investigate more when I get some time. I hope to have a better look at the steering setup and get a look to see if there more circuitry on the other side of the PCB. I'm sorta hoping that there's some transistors there I could mosfet mod just for the hell of it, lol......

Anyways, thought I would try stuffing in a bigger motor, cause you know, that's what I do, lol...

Problem was one of length. So I cut the shaft on the xtrek motor about 1mm short and also trimmed (read butcher) the pinion gear from the stock qsteer motor to fit.

Basically the end length of the xtrek motor with the trimmed shaft and pinion is the same as the stock qsteer motor and stock pinion.

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And it fits too..... (please ignore butchered pinion!)

Image

She goes faster now, lol..... Takes a bit more to get up to speed but some mosfets will take care of that. lol....

ph2t.
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Post by frizzen »

K-mart?!?!?!?!?!?!

Nice review
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sidewinder
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Post by sidewinder »

I just checked out the Kmart website, no qsteer kisted but I think I found the ulitimate hillbilly RC... I'm fighting the urge to buy one or two of them so I'd better get off line before I end up spending money on more toys. :sad: .http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_1010 ... keyword=rc

Hey if you happen to have a ruler around could you measure the board please...it looks like it might work for something I've been think about trying. Thanks
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ph2t
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Post by ph2t »

sidewinder wrote: Hey if you happen to have a ruler around could you measure the board please...it looks like it might work for something I've been think about trying. Thanks
Approx 20mm X 17mm.

Started modding this lil bugger a bit more and also investigating how the steering is setup. Will have pics soon. My only Qsteer and I've already fucked the steering wires up and currently figuring out where they go :? .

It's Bits all over again, lol.... :cool:

It's fun getting back into the toy micro! :-o
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crazydave
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Post by crazydave »

Kind of a bummer about the non rechargeable batteries. So hong do those last? (Or should I say have they lasted so far?)
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Post by ph2t »

crazydave wrote:Kind of a bummer about the non rechargeable batteries. So hong do those last? (Or should I say have they lasted so far?)
I think about 40 minutes. The new tamiya buggy qsteer has rechargable batts. With some modding I am able to squeeze a 50mah flyriver lipo into the qsteer chassis :eek: more on that later!
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Post by SHAUN »

You just can't leave anything alone, can you? Personally I love that about you, you always do some bad ass things to your RCs.
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z-beam
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Post by z-beam »

"The batteries sit within the centre (duh!) and you can remove the plastic cover that sits over them. Tricky though, takes a bit of prying out with a small screwdriver."

lol ph2t. the fold out grey plastic bit on the controller is made to do this for you its got little hook bits on it to make it easy.

you seriously got a bigger motor working in it without it glitchng the controls? ive tried every single bcg motor i own and they all interfere with response times.
any beefcake bcg motors do indeed make them go faster, but unless you want a drag car the steering and boost functions are like an alco bum is in control.

just got my 9th and 10th cars in the mail yesterday from hong kong. the Bb surprisingly had offset tyres and rims to match the body. rx-7 cop car is pretty zippy with the "fast gears" that it came packaged with (they are orange).
prince skyline body is proving to be a bitch to adapt to the q-steer chassis tho. just a few mm short of being a perfect fit even shaved out as much as possible. looks like a 57 chev :).


and as far as the batteries go, i detested the whole charge aspect of micros. i dont mind replacing them when they are run down if i can get nice ammounts of uninterupted drive time out of them.
about the biggest killer of interest in these when trying to get a few freinds to have a race on the track was charging cars every 2 minutes.
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Post by z-beam »

frizzen wrote:K-mart?!?!?!?!?!?!

Nice review
yeah k-mart...

in australia.


try e-bay if you want the qsteers in the states.
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Post by frizzen »

That explains why the only micro rc thing I found at Kmart was a really weird engine with wheels monstrosity that holds onto the back of a diecast toy car so you could drive them. I didn't buy one, I really wanted a qsteer.
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Post by SHAUN »

Frizzen, look at www.HLJ.com. I think ToyEast also had some.
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z-beam
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Post by z-beam »

massive ammount of new posts regarding q-steers over at ausmicro.com go check out all the pics and info i put up there...
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