Help Me Science Guys!!
 

Well, I just did a dual cell to the lambo super bit. I also replaced all the internal wires with CAT 5 (besides the steering wires of course), as well as making the contacts to the motor very small (next best thing to hard wiring it I guessed). It has a 3.8 motor, 8:1 gear ratio and 2 stock nicads in series (internal). The thing is rediculously fast. The first time I hit the go button after charging it, it went airborne and landed upside down, from a smooth surface mind you. I swear I'm not full of it. I've never made a tri cell, but I would wager this super bit dual cell is just as fast or faster. It makes all the other dual cells I have look like Slowpoke Gonzales. I definately have reniewed hope for the super bits now.

Besides the obvious control problems that I'm going to have to work with, I have a rather cliche problem. THE RANGE. It's so damn fast, it goes out of it's measly range within the blink of an eye.

SCIENCE GUYS, could you please, please, please open the controllers of these new super bits, and tell me what I can do to this poor thing.

I've already tried CAT 5 wire, adjusting the pots and putting a teliscoping antenna on (2+ ft). It still goes about 4 ft. I've also tried resoldering the antenna for better connection. I believe there must be something in the controller killing the range.

Please help. This machine is definately worth the effort.

Also, has anybody else dual celled a super bit yet (not laymen's)? Is it just my car, or is anybody else getting these results?

Do this.

Thanx. Just finished. I used some copper wire. The range actually got worse. Is it a particular type of wire? I don't think that's going to get me very far, but I apreciate the effort. It's gotta be something inside that stupid controller.

Are you sure the range was worse? I tried that and it gave me almost double the range.....oh well :rolleyes: I guess one man's poison is another man's medicine lol :eek:

Well, there is a resistor in series right before the antenna. I'm going to try to short that resistor tomorrow (I've got to get some sleep now). Can anybody tell me if this is a good idea, or offer any advise on how to spot a component in the controller that's limiting the range?

if you see a tuning inductor on the pcb (dunno how different these super bits are from teh regular ones) dig out the wax. have a friend stand at one corner of your largest room and hold the forward button. walk backwards slowly, if it stutters or stops responding, slowly turn the screw in the tuning inductor clockwise or counterclockwise until it gets a signal again. remember, do it slowly, it's kind of sensitive. then keep moving back until the controller is at its absolute maximum range or u've turned the screw in teh inductor alll the way until it stopped.

Is it the same as a potentiometer? That actually sounds like some good sane advice. What do you think about the resistor shorting? Do you think that resistors can be used to limit the signal? My electronics skills are very basic. I'll do it sometime today anyways, and I'll let everyone know if it worked. But what about another idea?

What about adding extra batteries to the controllers? I don't think it would work, because it would most likely burn something out. But it is a thought swimming around in my head. How do I know if the circuit could take more volts and current? Is there a way to figure this out?

Also, one last thought that's been swimming. This is probably going to be considered pretty stupid, but it comes from my limited electronics knowledge. If the signal needs more power, then how would strapping a battery on the antenna work? I would put the positive on one end of the antenna and the negative on the other end. electrons take the path of least resistance, so I wouldn't think that the current would go back into the controller, but I'm not sure if the signal needs more current. An example of this would be an iron for ironning clothes. That's nothing more then current going through metal. I would use alot less power, so it wouldn't heat the antenna up (hopefully), but would it actually assist the signal transmited?

Ok, first off the extra wire stuck on the ant. is incomplete advice. Antennas work by wavelengths. Just sticking more wire on it won't help unless you have it properly tuned.

Yes, a tuning inductor looks like a pot. But instead of being a way to divert power between 3 sources, it has a ferric core, inside of a wire coil. By turning that in or out, it changes the amount of power inducted. (in electricity, coils are just magic!)

The resistor removal *might* not be the best idea. You might be able to blow out your Tx that way, I'm not quite sure how the stuff applies to these yet

Cool. Advice I can use. I'll tear apart the controller now and tell you guys how it goes. Thanx for all the help.

i suggest u tune the inductor on the car instead

Usually a capacitor is used to limit range, I wouldn't touch those resistors, if I was you.

It's not a resistor, it's an inductor, a totally different type of component. Don't short it whatever you do, it will kill any sort of transmission power you get out of the controller.

ph2t.

Well, I shorted that resistor, took out some suface mounted caps, already had the inductor tuned on the car, and I got the range to a whole 8 ft with the same crappy interference.

There is no inductor in the controller. Could I put one in to help the signal?

PH2t, have you opened these controllers? I'm talking about the new ones for the super bit charge. Or you might have a different one then me.

I even tried putting the tx crystal in another controller. I kinda figure that wouldn't work, but I had to try cause it worked before with other controllers.

Well, I think I'm gonna do a pcb swap. I've got another super bit. I just got some mosfets in the mail. I've got this one 27mhz clone with very good range for $5.
$5 clone + mosfets + super bit chassis = we'll see.

This will be my first mosfet mod. Does anybody have some realy good close up pictures of micro amps technique with all the fets on the top of the board. All the pictures I have are hard to see were all the wires go.

boho,

ph2t is right ... not sure why someone would put a resister is series with an antenna. Some inductors (axial) look like resistors, even down to the color strips. Capacitors can also be axial.

In most cases, capacitors are put in series with antennae. Caps pass high frequencies and inductors resist high frequencies ... however, these rules are relative to resistance, inductance, and capacitance around them.

Post a photo of the controller PCB with a close-up of the component you are referencing.

From reading your posts, I would recommend sending your car to microAmp to have him do the MOSFET mod.

regards.

Couple of questions. 1. Do you think the Super BIT PCB is pumping out more juice than a regular BIT PCB 2. Do you have problems with the controller accelerator button sticking ? I am thinking of doing a dual cell, but I can't even control my super bits with a 4.2 motor in them.

Thanks JD

Boo7a, Thanx for clearing that up. It probably is a inductor or something. What about the color of the stripes? Will an inductor's stripes still use silver or gold for resistance accuracies?
Also, I love the torque. The problem is the sticking motion it goes through. When it goes out of range or has any signal interference, it will continue the last command given for a little while. My range on the poor thing is only about 4 ft with tons of interference. Basically, when I hit the go button, it keeps accelerating out of control, doing things that usually resemble acrobatics. If I could get a cleer signal to it with no interference, then I could just start off slower by tapping the go button. But I literaly have to have the antenna inches away from the car to get a good signal.

Sorry I don't have a digital camera right now to get pictures. I've got a friend that has one, so I'll have to borrow it because I think we could all benefit from some more proffessional analysis.

JackD 1. Yes, definately. I replaced the wires again with regular copper coated wires and it's still crazy fast. I did put a die cast ambulance body (I made it) on it for extra weight, and put all slick tires on so it wouldn't grip so much. It's still my fastest dual cell!!!! I just can't control the damn thing. 2. Yes the fricking thing still sticks rediculously. That's why I can't control it.

I went out and perchased a high quality antenna, and I'm gonna try that. I'll keep you guys posted. I don't expect it to work. As far as doing your own dual cell mod to the super bits, I would wait until you can increase the range and get rid of the interference problem. It actually makes me want to cry, because tomy did finally make a very good car this time, but the controller still seems to be a problem, and now they are on different sub-frequencies, so I can't even use a better made controller from a clone.

Sorry PH2, I was just skeptical. I know you're much better at this stuff than me. I hope I didn't offend you.

Can I put an inductor in there somewhere. If that resistor looking thing is an inductor, then could I take that sucka out and replace it with a better, tunable inductor?

boho - the colors on the inductor go according to the following link. http://www.elexp.com/t_induct.htm

The colors on a 27MHz Tango-uniform controller that I have are yel-violet-gold-gold, which according to the table in the link it would be 4.7uH +/- 5%. This is similar to the value of the inductor in series with the antenna in the schematic for a 49MHz controller; i.e., 1uH.

I'm not sure about the newer cars, but my microSizers all came with the antenna toward the drivers side rear of the PCB; it is then routed to the front of the board with a knot tied in the wire and held in place by a retainer clip on the chassis, then routed back along the PCB to the rear of the car where is exits the car. I got some extra range out of undoing the knot, then routing the wire straight out the back of the car. My thougts were to get the antenna away from the board as soon as possible. It is an easy fix ... give it a shot. After fixing the antenna, tune the receiver again using the variable inductor (choke).

The sticking is the signal from your transmitter being attenuated by free-space and then reaching the controller down near the minimum triggering level (sometimes referred to as MTL). This cut-off is not a brick wall, it rolls-off, so statistically some of the signal makes it through and some does not; thus the stuttering, sputtering, sticking ... what ever you call it.

The reciever is prolly doing some DSP (digital signal processing) to smooth out the response of the car. With a faster motor the car now has more momentum and does not stop on a dime.

What you (and others) are doing by putting those 42,000 RPM engines would be analogous to putting the engine from a NASCAR into a Geo Metro ... it will go fast as he- (heck), but don't try to turn ... you'll end up on your back wondering what the he- (heck) just happened. By turning I mean, turn the wheel full right as quick as possible ... this is how the steering control works on the microRC's. If the cars had proportional control, then the car may be more controllable ... however, someone will find the 75,000RPM engine to make the car uncontrollable again. Stiffer suspension may help as well ... microSizers have a kit with three different steering control arms, use the stiffest ... I haven't tried it, yet.

I am going to make a thread on proportional control ... please check it out.

regards,

bigAL

Hey, thanx for the link. Now I'm almost positive it's an inductor.

I already replaced the wire in the car with CAT5 and it's away from the pcb as well.

The sticking motion isn't from speed, it's from continual acceleration. If I tap the go button continualy I can get up to speed with more control, but I have to be about a 6" away to do this. As soon as the car gets farther away it gets interference and starts to continue the last command given. I.E. accelerate and left, or back, or just accelerate, or etc., etc...... The problems insue because it has so much torque that it will do a wheely with so much power that when the back of the car hits the floor it jumps in the air uncontrolably. If I could accelerate slower, then I wouldn't have a problem, but because it follows the last command when there is interference then it will continue to accelerate causing the control problem. The actual turning and moving is great, as long as the is no interference or you don't go out of range. The actual range is 4~8ft.

I've tried just about every range mod there is, that I know of. I listed them previously.

And yes, I tried the new high quality antenna for the controller. Didn't work out any better. I'll continue to fiddle with it though.

dude,

eliminate the interference. If it is other bit's ... well, if they are boosting the power from their transmitter ... tell them to stop.

ph2t mentioned that boosting the power of the controller is not the answer to increased range. The rcvr's don't have very narrow selectivity bands so if you are at 27MHz and they are at 35MHz with boosted power ... well they are getting into your rcvr. Tell them to stop.

If this problem occurs with no-one around then try to find the interference source and eliminate it. This may take some doing, basically start turning things off until the car performs better. BTW: I have a dead spot near my frig. (i.e., car sputters and stops at the frig ... maybe it's hungry) and dish washer (not sure why the wife is radiating EMI).

If you cannot find the offending electronics ... try a to move away from all sources ... including household wiring. The wiring in your house radiates all kinds of shi ... stuff.

If the range is bad, even on the moon, then perhaps the car/control combo is frilled. Purchase a new one.

I had a microSizer I just could not figure out why the range was crap ... it now resides in a plastic baggie, to be used for examination of components and general parts bitc ... h.

good luck.

Sometimes the car's motor makes the interference...

I found that putting a .1uf ("104") capacitor across the car's motor wires will take out a lot of the stutter action. Most cars have this capacitor on the board already, but some don't, and those that do have it may be running a motor that makes a lot of electrical noise, more than existing capacitor can supress. Adding another one across the existing capacitor should help.
:)

Well, I've run the car about everywhere. It's not other people either. I also have another superBCG that has the exact same problem. I ended up swaping the PCB on that already.

It could be the motor. When I put the 1.6 back in, the range w/o interference extended to about 6 ft. The interference range was about 8 ft. Either way, the range is still crap. I'll probably try that cap trick to see if that helps.

I'll keep hangin on to the car, but I'm beginning to give in to the thought that Tomy has jinxed these new supers.