Be careful when swapping servos

[carckton driver]

This is a little cautionary story of me being (kind of) an idiot. When swapping your servo or esc make sure all your wires are in that little grove in the reciever box/tray. When swapping servos i put all the wires back in the slot they came from but i guess when screwing down the lid on the reciever box the antena wire must have popped out and got cut in half when i screwed the lid down. I was out drivng and the car kept cutting out when it got 50-75 feet away. Tried new batteries in TX and even swapped batteries in the car even though they were fully charged. Couldnt figure out what was wrong until i got home and saw this
It also occured to me halfway through typing alk this. Can the antena wire be soldered together? Would that limit my range/conectivity at or or even work at all?

 

[fastasscrass]

The antenna wire might be a specific length. Does it work at all in it's current state?

 

[ZooKeeper]

You could try soldering the wire back together if you still have the other half, but it may still be unreliable at this point. Make sure you test your failsafe to ensure its working correctly, the last thing you want is a runaway car to hit someone.

If I was in your shoes, I'd be replacing the receiver.

 

[swarls]

I'm no expert on this matter, so I might be wrong here.

If I recall it correctly, the antenna cable is no normal cable, so soldering won't work. But you can replace them with something like this. As you can see it has a plug at the end, so you can just pop open the receiver and swap out the antenna. But as far as I remember, they have to be a certain length.

Again, I'm not 100% certain, just telling you what I think I know off of similar threads. Wait for someone to confirm what I'm saying before doing anything.

 

[Diem Turner]

As @swarls said, no need to replace the receiver. You can just replace the antenna. Much cheaper solution. As they're coaxial wires, soldering won't work as you're all but certain to solder the core and shielding together.

The overall length of the antenna is not relevant. What is relevant is the length of the unshielded bit at the end. The rest of the antenna is just a mast of sorts to raise the tip up higher. Depending on how far away you drive the car from yourself that could be helpful for better range but, as said, that will depend on how far away you drive.

 

[carckton driver]

Thanks for all the replies

The antenna wire might be a specific length. Does it work at all in it's current state?

I get about 50 feet of range

You could try soldering the wire back together if you still have the other half, but it may still be unreliable at this point. Make sure you test your failsafe to ensure its working correctly, the last thing you want is a runaway car to hit someone.

If I was in your shoes, I'd be replacing the receiver.

So as i just mentioned i get about 50 feet of range. Sometimes it does a mini runaway. It seems to want to run away until i hit the brake or something. Hard to tell as i was in a panic the few times it happened. Didnt happen every time it lost connection. Luckily i was going slow

I'm no expert on this matter, so I might be wrong here.

If I recall it correctly, the antenna cable is no normal cable, so soldering won't work. But you can replace them with something like this. As you can see it has a plug at the end, so you can just pop open the receiver and swap out the antenna. But as far as I remember, they have to be a certain length.

Again, I'm not 100% certain, just telling you what I think I know off of similar threads. Wait for someone to confirm what I'm saying before doing anything.

I remeber reading something similar. That antena will just plug right into the receiver if i open it up?

 

[Dan B.]

As @swarls said, no need to replace the receiver. You can just replace the antenna. Much cheaper solution. As they're coaxial wires, soldering won't work as you're all but certain to solder the core and shielding together.

The overall length of the antenna is not relevant. What is relevant is the length of the unshielded bit at the end. The rest of the antenna is just a mast of sorts to raise the tip up higher. Depending on how far away you drive the car from yourself that could be helpful for better range but, as said, that will depend on how far away you drive.

Third time this has come up in two days. Maybe you should write a technical synopsis in Electronics that could be stickied.

 

[carckton driver]

Unless im missing something swapping antenas isnt doable. The antena is soldered to the board but worse than that is it looks like there is some sort of silicone glueing it in place

 

[Diem Turner]

Unless im missing something swapping antenas isnt doable. The antena is soldered to the board but worse than that is it looks like there is some sort of silicone glueing it in place

View attachment 256418

That's rather unusual (and unfortunate). In the long run you'll probably need to replace the receiver. To bridge the gap, remove the shielding from the end of what you have left. I just measured the tip of my SR6110AT and it's 31mm. That should get you closer to the range you're accustomed to. Just be careful that you only remove the shielding and don't cut into the core.

Third time this has come up in two days. Maybe you should write a technical synopsis in Electronics that could be stickied.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I would, but I only have a surface level understanding of the basics and don't consider myself competent enough on the topic to say much more than I have in the last couple of posts. I know enough to (what should) get them working again, but not much more beyond that. But you have a point. I'd assume that this is something that happens frequently enough so as to warrant a sticky.

 

[sandblaster]

Look at it this way. Receivers are a lot cheaper to replace than the esc, motor or car. Experience is our best teacher. Those are the lessons we never forget. And you can get a wireless receiver and not have to worry about an antenna. The antenna is more for aircraft longer ranges.

 

[SrC]

That's rather unusual (and unfortunate). In the long run you'll probably need to replace the receiver. To bridge the gap, remove the shielding from the end of what you have left. I just measured the tip of my SR6110AT and it's 31mm. That should get you closer to the range you're accustomed to. Just be careful that you only remove the shielding and don't cut into the core.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I would, but I only have a surface level understanding of the basics and don't consider myself competent enough on the topic to say much more than I have in the last couple of posts. I know enough to (what should) get them working again, but not much more beyond that. But you have a point. I'd assume that this is something that happens frequently enough so as to warrant a sticky.

+1. Yes

Strip aprox 15-20mm of coax shielding from the end of what is left. You may be surprised that this will work. Crap happens we all did dumb stuff like this Myself included.
It is actually the last 15-20mm or so that is the actual "antenna". Where the signal gets to. Left shielded, this reduces the signal attenuation drastcially.
What do you have to lose at this point? I would.
Try it.

 

[Dan B.]

Look at it this way. Receivers are a lot cheaper to replace than the esc, motor or car. Experience is our best teacher. Those are the lessons we never forget. And you can get a wireless receiver and not have to worry about an antenna. The antenna is more for aircraft longer ranges.

If it were me I’d totally keep an external antenna.

 

[carckton driver]

That's rather unusual (and unfortunate). In the long run you'll probably need to replace the receiver. To bridge the gap, remove the shielding from the end of what you have left. I just measured the tip of my SR6110AT and it's 31mm. That should get you closer to the range you're accustomed to. Just be careful that you only remove the shielding and don't cut into the core.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I would, but I only have a surface level understanding of the basics and don't consider myself competent enough on the topic to say much more than I have in the last couple of posts. I know enough to (what should) get them working again, but not much more beyond that. But you have a point. I'd assume that this is something that happens frequently enough so as to warrant a sticky.

if it has a plug it would be super easy, the trickiest part would be figuring out wha the black plastic thing is that fell out when you took the case off (a blank plug) and getting it back in.

Look at it this way. Receivers are a lot cheaper to replace than the esc, motor or car. Experience is our best teacher. Those are the lessons we never forget. And you can get a wireless receiver and not have to worry about an antenna. The antenna is more for aircraft longer ranges.

a what kind of receiver? what the hell is wireless? i don't have one already????

 

[Diem Turner]

+1. Yes

Strip aprox 15-20mm of coax shielding from the end of what is left. You may be surprsed that this will work. Crap happens we all did dumb stuff like this Myself included.
It is actually the last 15-20mm or so that is the actual "antenna". Where the signal gets to. Left shielded, this reduces the signal attenuation drastcially.

It's actually a little more than that. My Futaba receivers each have 29mm unshielded and my Spektrum receiver has 31mm. They obviously operate on slightly different frequencies, hence the difference in unshielded length. The 1/4 wavelength of 2.4GHz is 31.23mm, so it makes sense from that standpoint.

 

[carckton driver]

+1. Yes

Strip aprox 15-20mm of coax shielding from the end of what is left. You may be surprised that this will work. Crap happens we all did dumb stuff like this Myself included.
It is actually the last 15-20mm or so that is the actual "antenna". Where the signal gets to. Left shielded, this reduces the signal attenuation drastcially.
What do you have to lose at this point? I would.
Try it.

in that case i would have to run without a cover on the receiver box since whats left isnt long enough to reach outside the closed box since it got cut by the box its self. then again i don't ever plan to drive it in water. whats the best way to strip the shielding? wire stirppers?

 

[Diem Turner]

Look at it this way. Receivers are a lot cheaper to replace than the esc, motor or car. Experience is our best teacher. Those are the lessons we never forget. And you can get a wireless receiver and not have to worry about an antenna. The antenna is more for aircraft longer ranges.

Have I been doing this wrong all this time?

in that case i would have to run without a cover on the receiver box since whats left isnt long enough to reach outside the closed box since it got cut by the box its self. then again i don't ever plan to drive it in water. whats the best way to strip the shielding? wire stirppers?

I'd use a scalpel and a soft touch personally. Remove the gray mantle to the appropriate length, then unbraid the shielding and cut it off with some flush cuts where the mantle ends. That should get you good results. I'd just drill a small hole in the receiver box so that it can just stick up out of it. But that's just me.

 

[SrC]

If it were me I’d totally keep an external antenna.

+1
I have a few antennaless "Track" recievers. They even have nice Fast Frame rates etc. Are light and small. Just that range is usually more suited for track running, not the wide open fields that we bash at. From experience. I feel range is important, or you can lose a rig real easy with loss of control. Even if your failsafe is setup properly. Been there.

 

[carckton driver]

yeaaa, jennys has a TX/RX combo for $30. if i could buy a new (solder type) antena i would probably try that just to see if i have the skills but i think ill just buy a new one

 

[sandblaster]

I buy and run the Futuba wireless receivers. They work fantistic and so much easier to work with when the antenna wire is not an issue. Hence "WIRELESS". Wonder about some of you, what you may be on.

 

[Diem Turner]

I buy and run the Futuba wireless receivers. They work fantistic and so much easier to work with when the antenna wire is not an issue. Hence "WIRELESS". Wonder about some of you, what you may be on.

So you mean antenna less and not wireless. Sorry to have to be the one to explain the joke, but all transmitter/receiver combos are wireless. That's kind of the point of them. Are we being pedantic? Perhaps. But maybe we're just trying to be clear about what we're talking about.