RF receiver loses signal ?
Hello to you all
I bought a really cool toy today. It's called something like "Flying star in space", and it's basically a styrofoam craft with a single prop aimed downwards (i.e. the air flow is downwards). It is remote controlled and can only go up, down or hover. So it works pretty OK, even though the prop is sitting too low and scrapes the ground at take-off and "landing". But one big problem is that every five seconds or so the craft's motor stops for maybe half a second, then comes back on. It seems like the receiver looses the signal of the transmitter. Something peculiar is that the problem usually only occurs when the craft is fully charged (6V 120 mAh NiMH), and disappears after some time when the accu has discharged a bit. I looked into the electronics and find a 0.1 uF cap in parallel with the motor + a diode in opposite polarity for absorbing back-EMF.
The problem might have to to with the craft rotating fast when flying (this is the way it's supposed to work). Does anyone have any solution to this? Any ideas of how to test what's causing it?
Edited: I thought I'd mention that the transmitter is supposed to have a 33 ft range, and problems have occured when I'm only a few feet away.