BitChar-GMotors! - Hardcore tech thread!

#1 09-30-2002, 06:00 PM

Hey there, been lurking here for a few days and I saw your Bit-Zap thread.

I'm handy with a soldering iron, and a hacker by nature. I don't have the cashflow to mess with anything other than my ZZ right now, but you could really help me out.

I would like to ask a few favors, from anyone really, I don't care. I'm working on some theories and some quick soldering tricks to really speed up the ZZ.

1) Could you measure the voltage coming to the motor in your bit-zap, with only one battery attached? I can measure from my stock ZZ too.

2) Could you (or anyone, actually) scan or take a really high res, up close photo, of both sizes of the board inside the Bit?

Anyone who could help, it'd be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to reverse engineer the ZZ, but it'd help if I had something to go by in reference to the Bit and Bit-Zap setup. Thanks!

headhunter555 · #2 09-30-2002, 06:42 PM

well ill look around yesterday i just say links to shcomatics (i spelled the wrong i just know it) to ZZs if i dont find them they were on the site i just cant remeber were...

headhunter555 · #3 09-30-2002, 06:46 PM

Here ya go!
http://tinyrc.com/forums/showthread....&threadid=1383

scroll down a little there 4 or 5 links, i cant say if this is what u need i didnt download any of them but should be worth a shot!

#4 09-30-2002, 07:24 PM

Those schematics are only for the controller...

Sigh... hey did anyone notice there's a spot for a "turbo" button on the schematics?

#5 09-30-2002, 07:49 PM

tried the "turbo" pin on the IC... doesnt do anything. I also saw some surface mount resistors near the motor solder pads. I bypassed them, same thing. No results. I'm still hacking!!!

lowerdfool · #6 10-01-2002, 08:42 AM

keep up the good work. The more we know about little things we can add or remove on these boards the better we'll be in the future. If you come across anything interesting please post if you don't mind.

#7 10-01-2002, 12:31 PM

I'm going to try to build an intermediate board. I don't know how well it is going to work, but what it will do, is intercept the "forward" and "backward" eletricity, and use it as a trigger. If all goes well, it will drive the motor directly off the battery, instead of driving it through the circuit board.

Hopefully I'll be able to build these on a lightweight, small footprint pcb with submini components so it'll be able to fit on top of the chassis and still inside the shell, and hopefully the extra torque it gives will outperform the load of the extra weight. We'll see how it goes. It might take me a few days to work it out, but parts are cheap and I have a lot of what I need already. I just need to think through how I'm going to wire up all these rectifiers and SSR's.

If it works well, I'll post a schematic, and I might sell affordable "booster boards" for people that don't wanna build one themselves.

lowerdfool · #8 10-01-2002, 02:12 PM

great idea. that alone should bring the zipzap's speed up to par with the BCG's. I was wondering if you could add in a small loop of wire to bypass some of the other electrical components and suply the extra power to the motor.

#9 10-01-2002, 02:30 PM

yah. like I said, I tried bypassing some of the resistors with a little loop of wire. The only thing I can think of now is to make the "forward" and "backward" trigger a relay (I'm hoping that I can find a small solid state relay!) that will have a lot less resistance, and should be more like feeding the motor directly from the battery. I'm also kinda cheesed off right now as it appears one of my co-workers has -- for lack of better words -- tactfully acquired my multimeter.

Hopefully it turns up somewhere. I was hoping to be able to measure my motor output voltage.

I have also been using NiMH Rechargeable cells in my remote, which should put out 2.50 volts fully charged, instead of the 3.0 volts I'd be getting if I used alkalines. I might try using some rayovac renewals, as I believe they actually do hold 1.5v each on a full charge.

Axel · #10 10-01-2002, 02:50 PM

Hey, I don't know if this is of any interest to you guys, but I've been seeking ways to speed up my zipzap and I found a great one.

Yesterday while goofing around I decided to run my 16,000 RPM motor straight off of a 9 volt battery. It hummed about 7 times faster than before and I left it going for 5 minutes straight and it barely even warmed up (no burning it out).

So today, I ripped out my 1.2V NiMH and rigged a 9v to the top of my car and this thing hums!! I can't fit the body on with it like this, but this sucker flys even with the added weight of the 9V.

And it didn't hurt the electronics any. Not only does it go about 4 times faster now, it also doesn't have the steering lag it used to. But it does tend to tip over a lot and be hard to steer. I'm hoping to find one of those little 3.6V camera batteries (I believe it's also 1/3AAA size) in NiMH style to replace my 1.2V with. Then this thing would kick but for sure.

Let me know your thoughts on this Mod.
I'll try to post pictures of the 9v one later, and the 3.6v one when I'm done.

-Alex

#11 10-01-2002, 03:51 PM

Dude! a 3.6V camera battery would be bad ass... Thanks for the tip... I wonder how the hell 9v doesn't damage the circuitry at all. amazing!

Namuna · #12 10-01-2002, 04:04 PM

Hey ax0n,

I'm about to head out to RadioShack to pick up this DMM

What are your thoughts on it? I know it's overkill for just testing Bits, but I figure I might use it for other things. I'm just worried that it might not be 'accurate' enough to give a decent rating.

...Oh, and

for that 9v mod! (Welcome to the Community btw Axel)

#13 10-01-2002, 05:25 PM

I actually just bought a replacement for mine:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...%5Fid=22%2D810

it's on sale like 10 bucks... don't forget a battery! it takes a 12 volt. The cat number for the batteries is 23-279 - it comes with 2 and they are SMALL!!! I think I might use the other one in my ZZ... hell if you can run 9v why not try 12?

And it's small enough it will fit inside. I also am trying a 6 Volt 1/3N size battery too.

This is the multimeter that got stolen from me... hopefully it'll get returned... I miss it.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...%5Fid=22%2D810

it's a good one too, and does automatic ranging, plus it comes with a battery in it already

I'll let you guys know how my testing works out.

#14 10-01-2002, 06:18 PM

with the stock battery in the car, charging using my NiMH Batteries, the motor is getting 1.27 volts.... not bad considering the barrery is flating at 1.29 volts. I'm not sure that a relay will speed the motor up.

#15 10-01-2002, 07:45 PM

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I lied. The 1/3N battery I got is 3 volts.

BUT with a few wires and snipping away a plastic tab, it fits (not perfectly) inside my ZZ.

The Radio Shack cat no. is 23-265. This thing HAULS ASS. It's a lithium battery, 3 volts, and not rechargeable. It makes me wish my ZZ had an on-off switch. maybe I'll wire one up.

Pros:

mind boggling speed! this thing probably would outrun my stock $20 Tyco R/C car I got at Target (it's not a Canned Heat, it's bigger, a red car that came with ramps and a "ring of fire" to jump through. I can't recall the name of the kit. It's definitely a sleeper!

Cons:

too fast. Flips over while steering. I took the front tires off, and it doesn't flip over now

But it also doesn't really steer very well either. I need to come up with some really hard compound tires. This is where I wish the front tires from the Bits would fit the ZZ.

The battery doesn't fit PERFECTLY. you have to trim away a little plastic tab, and the circuit board won't fit in the case anymore, because the 1/3N battery is a little larger in diameter, I had to hold down the clear plastic board cover with a small piece of scotch tape. No biggie.

Not rechargeable.

And at FIVE ****ING DOLLARS per battery, this could get pretty expensive. It'd be a neato trick to use if you were going to race little neighborhood kids, but it's just not cost effective to run it like this all the time.