Futuba 4pls lost range

[WTF MIKE]

My futuba lost its range it only goes about 30’ before it cuts out. Any suggestions as to why?

 

[WoodiE]

Check your antenna wire, ensure all your batteries are fully charged and try to re-bind the radio and transmitter.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

My 4PLS was doing this when I had the antenna wire curled up inside the receiver box. I ran the wire outside of the box as you are supposed to do and it worked great and got my range back. I have since bought a receiver without an antenna and it works great as well.

 

[WTF MIKE]

I always keep the antenna out. I just changed the batteries and I will try to re bind it. Hope this works. Will keep you guys posted

 

[Cr3pitus]

Any other changes to electronics? Bec, servo, esc? Any chances of a brown out?

 

[WTF MIKE]

Any other changes to electronics? Bec, servo, esc? Any chances of a brown out?

I changed the servo and motor
What is a brown out?

 

[Notorious J]

I changed the servo and motor
What is a brown out?

Temporary loss of electric power

 

[olds97_lss]

A brown out is when you have something consuming so much power that the receiver reboots or doesn't have enough current left to function.

I had that happen with my spektrum receiver recently when I tried putting the Savox SW1210sg in my ERBEv2 which is using an old HPI F360C esc. The esc is a rebadged mamba monster version 1, which I think the BEC only puts out 3-5A. It was fine until I turned the steering wheel, then the fan's rpm's dropped and the receiver rebooted.

Happened on my nitro's as well with a 6V 1600mah hump pack when using a savox 0231 for steering. For that, a glitch buster cap was enough to deal with it. But on my ERBEv2, I don't want to risk killing the esc, so I put a lower power servo back on it. Even still, I just got a 10A castle bec that I intend on putting on it just to remove the extra load from the esc since it's BEC is apparently pretty weak.

 

[Cr3pitus]

What servo did you switch to? So this is a stock blx185 sending power to rx, and rx distributing power to servo? Just trying to troubleshoot. As an example of what could be happening - the blx185 has a 3A bec, a savox 1210sg servo can in theory at stall current draw 6A. The stock BEC could be overtaxed, or putting out unstable voltage out because of the load from the servo. Typically if this is happening you can put on an external BEC like the castle waterproof bec 2.0 or a good capacitor pack in line before the rx. But it could be something else rx related or tx related.
edit: one way to troubleshoot if it is a power issue is to just ghetto rig external power to the rx temporarily. If its an r304sb rx for example it can take 8.4 volts max so you could unplug the power wire from esc to rx, rig up a servo plug to a 2s battery, attach power and ground from battery to rx in this fashion, and then see if you stop cutting out. Just make sure you use the proper voltage battery for your rx and don't have 2 different sources of power going into the rx.

 

[olds97_lss]

What servo did you switch to? So this is a stock blx185 sending power to rx, and rx distributing power to servo? Just trying to troubleshoot. As an example of what could be happening - the blx185 has a 3A bec, a savox 1210sg servo can in theory at stall current draw 6A.

Didn't realize the BLX185's bec was that weak. 3A must be nominal or something as I don't hear my fans dip hardly at all when I steer my outcast with the 1210sg in it. In my ERBE, I don't even have to put the tires on the ground to hear the fans dip and the receiver to reboot. I just have to steer back and forth a couple times fairly quickly and it happens.

If the blx185 is that weak, I may put the extra 10A bec in it... not looking forward to shoehorning it into the tiny receiver box.

 

[WTF MIKE]

Sorry I should of put my setup earlier I have the momba monster x esc, I had a hitec which died and a 1515 2200kv motor which also had to much play so I sent it back to castle. In the mean time I put in my savox 1210sg and a back up blx 2050kv motor and that’s when all this started to happen. On the radio the signal starts to drop at about 10 feet no bars left and at about 30’ it’s lost complete signal and the radio flashes tm off.
When I walk to get signal back the esc starts beeping and when I check the what the beeps mean it says radio glitch, the esc detected unusual signals or loss of signal on the throttle wire

 

[olds97_lss]

Sorry I should of put my setup earlier I have the momba monster x esc, I had a hitec which died and a 1515 2200kv motor which also had to much play so I sent it back to castle. In the mean time I put in my savox 1210sg and a back up blx 2050kv motor and that’s when all this started to happen. On the radio the signal starts to drop at about 10 feet no bars left and at about 30’ it’s lost complete signal and the radio flashes tm off.
When I walk to get signal back the esc starts beeping and when I check the what the beeps mean it says radio glitch, the esc detected unusual signals or loss of signal on the throttle wire

Check out hitec's site. Stall current on the 7954sh is 3A. Stall current on the 1210sg is 6A@6v, [email protected]. Between that, the fans and the receiver... could be hitting the upper limit of the MMX. It's not known for the best BEC. It has an 8A peak. Which would suggest pushing it much past 5-6A is straining it.

Funny how hitec can hit the same numbers (bit faster, little less torque) with half the power consumption... Guess that's where the extra $18 the hitec costs comes into play.

Might be worth finding a much lower drain servo laying around, plug it in, then just test the range to see if you still get a response. I know I keep a box of servos I won't ever use in anything just for testing purposes... (looking at you traxxas 2075's pos servos!).

 

[WTF MIKE]

Check out hitec's site. Stall current on the 7954sh is 3A. Stall current on the 1210sg is 6A@6v, [email protected]. Between that, the fans and the receiver... could be hitting the upper limit of the MMX. It's not known for the best BEC. It has an 8A peak. Which would suggest pushing it much past 5-6A is straining it.

Funny how hitec can hit the same numbers (bit faster, little less torque) with half the power consumption... Guess that's where the extra $18 the hitec costs comes into play.

Might be worth finding a much lower drain servo laying around, plug it in, then just test the range to see if you still get a response. I know I keep a box of servos I won't ever use in anything just for testing purposes... (looking at you traxxas 2075's pos servos!).

Wow I would of never guessed that thank you I will try it. I killed my self trying to fit that savox in

 

[olds97_lss]

Would baffle me a bit though if that was your issue... I run the 1210sg with 2 fans in my outcast off the BLX185 and it seems to do fine.

Then again, with the MMX/2200kv in my savage, I have had some strange signal loss issues your having. I don't have a radio the tells me the strength, just beeps and when I look at data logs, I see reboots in the log. For me, I thought perhaps it was my receiver as I had a knock off spektrum in it. But maybe part of the issue is the servo I'm running... it came with a decent digital hitec in it. That combined with the 2 10k rpm 30mm hobbystar fans... hm...

Just found the photo, it's a Hitec 7955TG, stall current 4.2A. I haven't had an issue really since I replaced the receiver... but it's good to keep in mind.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

If it was browning out due to the servo pulling too much power, wouldn't the range issue be gone when the car is going straight and the servo is not doing any work? And likewise if it was browning out, wouldn't the transmitter lose connection with the receiver even at close range when the servo is pulling to much power? I've never had an issue with brown outs so I can't say for sure.

 

[olds97_lss]

I'm not sure. One way to find out is to put in a less demanding servo and see what happens.
I forgot to ask, which receiver specifically are you using? Have you checked the antenna to see if it's solid from the receiver to the tip? If the outer shielding has cracked, that could hamper range pretty badly as well. 2.5ghz systems are not forgiving at all regarding antenna length. The shielding on a coaxial antenna is what gives it the proper bandwidth.

 

[WTF MIKE]

What if I lowered the bec on the esc would that work

 

[olds97_lss]

Amps is amps I think. The esc likely put's out 8A regardless of the V setting. Although, at 6V, the servo may use less, the specs say at 6V, it uses 6A. Could be worth a try.

If that doesn't help, throw a lower amp servo in there and see what it does to see what happens.

 

[Cr3pitus]

The more you describe the more it does not sound like a power draw problem. Still worth ruling out but it might be time to break out a multimeter and put it on connectivity mode and (no batteries plugged in) check for any poppy connections or wires, and evaluate your receiver and antenna for any physical damage. If the antenna got kinked hard when closing the receiver box or cut a bit or something it could just be basically on the wrong wavelength. 2.4ghz antenna standard 1/4 wavelength should be 31.23mm unshielded antenna. If you have digital calipers measure the exposed antenna unshielded portion and see how long it is. If you have access to another rx try that out and see if the problem goes away.

 

[olds97_lss]

@Cr3pitus is right though. It does sound like a damaged receiver or antenna. A brown out would happen regardless how far away you were. Sure, range would probably be limited, but usually only impacted when you use the servo or whatever that's putting a load on it.