Review: micro amps zip zap se steering fix

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betty.k
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Review: micro amps zip zap se steering fix

Post by betty.k »

you've probably heard of or seen a zz se with inconsistent steering probs. this is most likely a fault in design, but the technology exists in the car for smooth steering. my se had about 5 steps right and 3 steps left with lots of stutter when turning left. i had a go at one mod i found on tinyrc, but it didn't help. and there are 5 slightly different types of pcb out there, and trying to work out which one i had and finding a definate fix was proving difficult. so after a round trip to micro ampsville via post here's my thoughts.
WWWWOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!! :eek: bloody incredible! i now have 7 nice even steps each way, so good in fact it shows up the poor centering return spring on the controller! i originally bought the se off ph2t, and when he saw it today he said "i want it back!!" :-D vast improvement, i'm not used to propo control so it'll take a little practice, but this thing goes exactly where i point it. the rack and peanut steering is fantastic for off road and now it'll be even better. can't wait to treat it bad up bush again :shock:
on the side he tweaked the fets for me and brought the speed up to 9kph, initially it was 5. impressive to say the least!
so if you need your se steering tweeked send it to micro amps, he can fix every sort of pcb and as always the workmanship is top notch.
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crazydave
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Post by crazydave »

The knowledge of the steering fix has been out there. It fairly simple. Just remove the jumper on the steering pot, on the 2 wire set up, and just move the middle wire over to the right on the 3 wire set up.

When I had done the steering fix to my car, I had the exact same results, 7 steps in both directions, but it occasionally didn't return to center. I eventually undid the fix, because when racing on my track, you want to hit the straightaways straight. If the car is veering off to one side, then you ending up wasting the whle straightaway trying to get straightened out, and that annoyed me.

That the problem of not returning to center is not a problem of the controller. The steering system is apparently not powerful enough to pull itself to center every time. The jitter is apparently designed in to compensate. On the new SEs (the Chevelle and Torino) the steering system has been completely reworked on the PCB, and is using the same improved trannies that are in the drivetrain. It has no jitters, and returns to center every time, and this is using the same controller, so the controller couldn't possibly be the prob on the old cars.
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betty.k
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Post by betty.k »

i tried the steering fixes i could find but none of them helped. thankfully they didn't make it worse. my controller moves the steering about 1 - 2 steps without engaging the return spring, probably due to use. but it shouldn't be too hard to fix. i bought it second hand so it's to be expected. actually i think this se originated from you dave, white initial d rx7, yeah? if so thanks! :-)
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Post by crazydave »

Actually I offered to hook him up, noxorc already had one on the way to him. So you can thank him.

That's odd none of the fixes worked for you. The white RX-7s were the first run with the jumper, or at least mine was. :???:
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Son_Gokou
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Post by Son_Gokou »

betty,

It's cool to know that the SE's have the potential to get perfectly straight steering. It's a shame that RS couldn't have done a good job out of the box, and that you have to pay big money (80% of the price) to have proper steering, thanks to micro_amps.

If only RS knew better about RC cars....
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