My little qsteer review + motor mod, lol...
Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:45 pm
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...
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.
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).
Here's a shot with the battery cover removed:
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)
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.
And it fits too..... (please ignore butchered pinion!)
She goes faster now, lol..... Takes a bit more to get up to speed but some mosfets will take care of that. lol....
ph2t.
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...
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.
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).
Here's a shot with the battery cover removed:
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)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.
And it fits too..... (please ignore butchered pinion!)
She goes faster now, lol..... Takes a bit more to get up to speed but some mosfets will take care of that. lol....
ph2t.
.
. 
more on that later!