HarleyGal

Hi Everyone, I finally recieved my new hand controls from CEN to replace the faulty ones that came with my GST, but now I have a question about the frequency and crystals. As you all know, I'm only new at this, so I don't know much about crystals and all that stuff, learning slowly [&:]
But anyway, the new controls are "Sanwa" and have MX-Sport written on the front, and on the back it says FM27MHz. They came with a new FM reciever thing to put into the truck, which I did, and it all worked good yaaaaaaa Thank you CEN for the new controls
BUT, then when I went to the little local track we go to, my truck and a buggy interferred with each other and we had mayhem as my truck went bush, on it's own [X(]
So when we looked at the crystals, we were on the exact same frequency, yet my controls say FM, which had made us all think that they wouldn't interferre, cause the other guy was on AM. So now I am confused, are my controls AM or FM. We tried other crystals in my reciever and transmitter (but they were AM crystals), but my servos all twitched non stop, couldn't use any other crystals but the ones that came with the hand controls. I am just totally confused, if mine are FM, can they still interferre with AM?
Any help would be great, thanks

watapisr

i have a gst 7.7 also and my friend has a traxxas revo, we dont have the major problem that your having but if i get my transmitter AM too close to his truck FM, it will make his truck twitch and do crazy things also, i know not much help but your not alone on the confusion about am and fm. Hope you get it worked out.

HarleyGal

Hi Guys, well I''m going bonkers with these dam controls [sm=spinnyeyes.gif] so I need some help please I''ve had them nearly 2 weeks now and in that time, I''ve only used the truck 3 times. Everytime I have used it with the new FM controls I have encountered what I thought was interference from someone elses controls, until today. Today I went to the track all by myself, no one else around, it is a paddock in the middle of nowhere, in between a couple of farms, no power lines, (run on generator at night time) etc. But still the servos freak out radomly, not constantly, but all of a sudden, one minute it''s all good, next minute you''re outta control, just momentarily, then in control again. And then on the final start of the day, (with roto start) without touching the controls at all, the front wheels start turning left, right, left, right etc as soon as the rotostart turned over. Then when it started, the throttle servo was twitching all around, reving and breaking and it physically ran that rough and irractically, that it just kept stalling. It was also trying to switch itself from forwards to reverse, and it did that on Saturday night too, that''s when I get nervous and shut it down, cause I don''t want it to actually switch into reverse and then wreak my transmission. All of this has occured since these new FM controls that CEN sent me to replace the original AM faulty controls. I didn''t seem to have these problems with the AM ones. Someone I know, said, oh well you''ll have to buy the spectrum 240 GHz controls and it will all be solved, but to me, that''s not the point, shouldn''t the ones that come with the truck be adequate? I can understand when you''re racing and someone else being on the same frequency, but when you''re on your own, no other RC cars around etc, shouldn''t you be able to drive your truck with the controls it came with? Is this too much to ask from the factory controls? [&o]

I don''t know, its just giving me the.... you know what [:@] The truck itself is great, tough, good, excellent. Just the whole radio control saga that started from day dot with this truck [sm=71_71.gif]

arcboyz

My Feedback: (7)

you should just get some extra crystal sets and keep them handy thats the problem with radios that use crystals, interference.

arc

The Real Dogman

Hey HarleyGal, very sorry to hear you are still dealing with those radio problems!! I would try different crystals to see if that helps. Here is a dumb question,,, did you get a new receiver with the radio?? If so try different crystals...

Hope this helps some

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

Today I went to the track all by myself, no one else around, it is a paddock in the middle of nowhere, in between a couple of farms, no power lines, (run on generator at night time) <<<<<<<<<< where in the hell do you live ?? The outback ??

The Real Dogman

You could also try pulling out the Xtals from the radio an/or the receiver, rotate them 180* and reinsert them. Sometimes that will clear things up too!

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

And if you don''t know, make sure the TX crystal is in the TX and same for the RX

burningpoo

Do you think that would work for the twitchy servo problem? It''s going to be a while before I get the chance to check it out, need some aa''s

HarleyGal

Hi guys, Thanks everyone for all of that, I''ll try the 180 degrees rotation thing, but unless I order online, at the moment, I can''t get any other 27MHz FM crystals. We went to our LHS on the weekend, no FM crystals at all So I guess for now, there isn''t much I can do. None of my mates have FM crystals either, they''re all either AM or the Spectrum no crystal type FM. It''s just wierd that when I was borrowing one fo their AM contorls, (while waiting for the faulty originals to be replaced) the servos twitched a bit, but not like now, now it''s trying to put it in reverse!! But I''ll try rotating them too, cause I guess it could just be something little like wrong way around.

TRD, yes it came with the FM reciever for the truck too, it''s in the truck. Another question for you, because it says FM27MHz, does that mean, if I order crystals, they must be 27MHz?

Thanks

HarleyGal

Nomobux,
you made me laugh Yeah I kind of am out in the sticks you might say. Well not really..... here quick geography update..... I live in Far North Queensland, which is up near the top of Aus, the Only major city in Queensland, is Brisbane, which is the opposite end of my state. Our nearest Big Town (small city) is about 1 1/2 hours away, and it only has 2 LHS, both basically are useless and only good to buy fuel from, don''t even like their fuel!!!!!! They are both WAY over priced and only like dealing with their own few select brands. (There is a very little township where we live, but it only has absolute basics, food shops, a doctor, auto shop, post office, couple of other little shops and 4 yes 4 pubs!!) LOL There are no offical RC clubs or tracks in our area, but we have a mate that has built his own little private track down the back of a paddock, between 2 sugar cane farms (yes sugar cane is the main industry in our area) and the track has lights as we mainly race at night time, so the lights run on a generator. It is sooooo nice to not live in a busy city area, we love it. Oh and this just tops it off, we live in a huge shed, it has bedrooms and kitchen and bathroom and tiolet etc, but it''s a big shed all my toys live inside, including my motorbikes, LOL See told you we love it here

gotta love it

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

No crystals ??? What a backward place. Shoulda stayed with England, "The Mother Country " lol

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

4 pubs works for me !!

HarleyGal

Well I guess things just aren''t meant to go smoothly [&o] took it out today to try the tips everyone gave and to try and finnish tuning it, but got nowhere with any of it. The truck started once, all servo freaked out yet again, had to stall it. Long story short, the throttle servo has died now, and all the servos are just constantly freaking out, so can''t drive it now anyway. Not a real happy gal at the moment. [&o] This truck is barely broken in, haven''t even been able to bush bash it yet. CENNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HarleyGal

Well... I have an update on the whole servos freaking out situation. It is bit hard to explain, but basically as soon as the roto start is in the backplate, the servos go nuts, if you actually start the truck the servos continue to go absolutely nuts, it doesn''t stop doing it until you stall the truck. If you only have the roto sitting in the back plate, haven''t actually pressed the button yet, the servos all still freak out until you remove the roto start from the back plate. This is with the new FM controls that CEN sent to replace the original AM faulty controls.

However, take the FM reciever out and put an AM reciever in and use AM hand controls (had to borrow them again), and the whole issue doesn''t exist!!! No freaking out, no problem with the roto start, all normal, except the throttle servo, yeah it''s still dead. Wow that servo didn''t last long, I wonder if it was because of all the freaking out the servos have done on these FM controls?

So there you have it, one dead servo and a very bazarre issue with my hand controls, Still. oh CEN........

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

That is absolutely goofy ! Roto really shouldn''t be an issue. I have them in 3 trks. Are all the wires good, are they all connected to the correct RX ports, are the batteries GOOD. I hate AA''s in the trk and I think you still do. Contact Cen again and tell your story in DETAIL from start to finish. We''ll get this resolved somehow. Have you posted anything on the Cen site forums ? I see Cen is somewhat active there as opposed to here recently.

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

CEN ............. WHERE ARE YOU ? THIS NEEDS SOME ACTION !!

The Real Dogman

I''m going to chime in and call for some serious CEN action here!! HarleyGal has been a real trooper here, she needs this resolved NOW!!

CEN get this fixed for her now!! Do not try to cheap out of it. Step up and get her a NEW radio set!!

She has done her part, paid for the truck and waited several weeks for a "new" replacement radio and still no joy!!! If you offer to sell her anything to warranty this problem, we are going to have a problem!! You "boys" in CEN''s customer service know exactly what I am talkin about, especially the guy that "single handedly" improved the Customer Support Department.

Time for me to contact CEN, myself.

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

Yup, Let''s get her goin NOW !! She''s been waiting long enough. Ball is in Cens court.

HarleyGal

Thanks guys I''m so glad someone is on my side, LOL. I have a hump pack now days, got it last weekend, but i have tried all of my little tests I mentioned above, with and with out the hump pack just in case, so it''s nothing to do with the batteries as far as I know. It is just sooooo bizarre, it totally freaks on the FM stuff when you touch the roto start to it, but not with the AM. I have written to CEN last night, so we''ll see what happens.
Thanks everyone for your support, I hope CEN does step up and fix my radio drama

I''ll keep you informed

HarleyGal

Well CEN were in the forum today, I was watching and waiting for them to reply to my issue, but I guess they didn't get to mine [&o] No email replies from them as yet either. If I didn't live in a totally different country i would ring them, but don't want o have to resort to that just yet. Oh well.......

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

We're workin on it .. take care.

HarleyGal

thanks guys, very much appreciated, big thanks to you all

burningpoo

I fliped my crystals around today and it fixed my twitchy servo problem, sorry to hear it didn't work for you

CEN Racing

We are sorry to hear that you are having continued complications with your GST 7.7 model Harleygirl. We ussually just handle domestic issues but we did go out of our way to make sure a transmitter/receiver was sent to you from Taiwan. We uderstand that now you have some servo issues that need to be taken care of? Please e-mail my boss [email protected] and we will see about coordinating with Taiwan again to see about the servos- Warranty ussually just covers the first 60 days but I understand your situation is different then most- and I will inform upper management that you should be granted an extension.... bottom line is that we want you to have fun with your truck and have a positive experience- I must admit you have been a real tropper- I am certain that a customer care rep will reply to your e-mail shortly.