Arg, friggin range..

Pie · Post by **Pie** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 9:40 pm

heh, those of you that browse tinyRC know i've been trying to get some more range out of my cars... and they dont seem to be cooperating..

i've done some mods already....
1. POTs mod
2. Thick solid copper car antenna
3. Big antenna on the controller
4. 3 Batts in the controller

and none of them seem to help a lot... those 4 combined have picked me up about 2 feet extra.. on top of my old 5-6 foot range.. and my controllers dont have crip caps

the next thing i have planned is trying a few different antennas, and also take out the crip cap in the car.

a few q's tho... the cap is stuck on with quite a bit of solder.. and im not gonna go in there with my hands to wipe it off.. there's something called copper braid... or something.. it's supposed to suck up the solder, but i cant find it at my local RS... anything else i can use to eat up the solder?

and any other ideas about gettin more range?

thanks dudes

joez2872 · Post by **joez2872** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 9:55 pm

try going to a computer store they will def, have what your looking for,, as for range god u did alot already to try to help it ,,get a new car,,,,,

Post by **CaboWabo** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 10:30 pm

yup, what joez says, you should find it at a computer store or another electronics gadget store.
The larger antenna should have helped...
what freq. are you using just out of curiousity?

Pie · Post by **Pie** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 12:13 am

heh thx =)

i got a big mother of antenna... 4.5 feet fully extended

that sounded weird...

it works fine, but it's toooooo heavy, and feels like it's gonna break off my controller.. so i used a clone antenna.. (the round controller kind)

ima try lookin for some copper braid 2morro, and gonna pick up the new super street too... =P

im running a 45 Mhz BCG supra... i did the POTS mod, like payaso said, but it didnt seem to work as well as his did...

i love the new gen bits tho... they seem to put a lot more current/voltage through to the motor, and the steering's pretty even to both sides. only thing i dont like is the range...

SuperFly · Post by **SuperFly** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 1:47 am

Kind of an obvious question, but are you testing the range in more than one location? There's a couple places I've tried to drive that have "dead spots" or other places where I just can't get good range. I'm not sure if it's the shape of the room, electrical interference or what, but there it is.

Buzzbait · Post by **Buzzbait** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:37 am

I'll bet that interference is the problem. My 49MHz Humvee has the best range of all my cars at home, but only gets about 3 or 4 feet at the office. The best for range at the office is a 27MHz Motorworks, which gets about 3 or 4 feet at home. Weird stuff. I'd try changing locations, and see what happens.

hogjowlz · Post by **hogjowlz** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 9:26 am

ive had no luck getting good range out of microsizers. clones you can really beef up range tho.

ezenterprises · Post by **ezenterprises** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 5:11 pm

What your talkin about is solder braid and its sold at RS in the section with all the solder supplies. It comes in a little plastic disc shaped thing. Basically you put it on the solder and put the iron on the back of it... the heat melts the solder and "wicks" it up the braid.

hogjowlz · Post by **hogjowlz** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 5:17 pm

ezenterprises wrote:What your talkin about is solder braid and its sold at RS in the section with all the solder supplies. It comes in a little plastic disc shaped thing. Basically you put it on the solder and put the iron on the back of it... the heat melts the solder and "wicks" it up the braid.

it works better if you melt solder on the one side while pressing against what you wana clean.

BilboBaggins · Post by **BilboBaggins** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 9:41 pm

Pie wrote:i've done some mods already....
1. POTs mod
2. Thick solid copper car antenna
3. Big antenna on the controller
4. 3 Batts in the controller

Did you try taking the cripple chip off the car's PCB?

noxorc · Post by **noxorc** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 9:44 pm

BilboBaggins wrote:
Pie wrote:i've done some mods already....
1. POTs mod
2. Thick solid copper car antenna
3. Big antenna on the controller
4. 3 Batts in the controller
Did you try taking the cripple chip off the car's PCB?

Hey Bilbo, welcome to da hood. Glad you made it out of the woods.

-nox

Post by **CaboWabo** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 11:19 pm

ditto, welcome to our neck of the woods Bilbo

Pie · Post by **Pie** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 12:29 am

hmm thanks for the suggestions

and yeah, c the thing im really concerned about is the range in my hallways and stuff.... basically i got 20 feet in my living room, but 6-8 feet anywhere else in my house... i swear... SOMETHING's wrong and i dont know what...

ima look for some copper braid 2morro... see what i can pick up. oh yeahhh, and i added a 3rd antenna to my controller (read it somewhere on this board).... lets see if it works

and welcome bilbo.. the only thing i seem to remember is your wife's purple skyline.... (i think)

ph2t · Post by **ph2t** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:11 am

Pie wrote:.... basically i got 20 feet in my living room, but 6-8 feet anywhere else in my house... i swear... SOMETHING's wrong and i dont know what...

Pie, nothing is wrong. Interference is what causes the decrease in range. To state that you get 20' in an open area and then 8' in a less open area makes perfect sense. The AM transmitter is reflecting off very close walls (eg a hallway) and this causes the AM wave to overlap itself.

Sometimes this overlap is constructive, IE two AM waves add to each other making a stronger signal. Other cases (most of the time) two or more AM waves subtract from each other because they are out of sync and cause the signal to go to zero almost.

This is a very common occurance in the world of RF.

ph2t.

noxorc · Post by **noxorc** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 5:42 am

ph2t wrote:
Pie wrote:.... basically i got 20 feet in my living room, but 6-8 feet anywhere else in my house... i swear... SOMETHING's wrong and i dont know what...
Pie, nothing is wrong. Interference is what causes the decrease in range. To state that you get 20' in an open area and then 8' in a less open area makes perfect sense. The AM transmitter is reflecting off very close walls (eg a hallway) and this causes the AM wave to overlap itself.

Sometimes this overlap is constructive, IE two AM waves add to each other making a stronger signal. Other cases (most of the time) two or more AM waves subtract from each other because they are out of sync and cause the signal to go to zero almost.

This is a very common occurance in the world of RF.

ph2t.

Yea, what Ph2t says....he knows...he's from Aussieland!.
Them people down there...their stuck, so they read books.

-nox

bitPimps.lixlink.com

Arg, friggin range..

Arg, friggin range..

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